After a period of speculation over his future, Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna has officially announced his retirement from the game. Bopanna, whose remarkable career spanned two decades, became the oldest and highest-ranked men’s doubles player for the first time following a triumphant 2024 Australian Open campaign with Matthew Ebden.
Bopanna was a men’s doubles finalist at the US Open in 2010 and 2023, while also being a three-time semi-finalist at Wimbledon and a two-time semi-finalist at Roland Garros.
The Bangalore-born Coorgi player has a career doubles win-loss record of 539-409, having won a total of 26 career titles after turning professional in 2003.
Rohan Bopanna won his first Grand Slam mixed doubles title at Roland Garros 2017 alongside Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski. Interestingly, Bopanna’s compatriot Leander Paes was the reigning champion at Roland Garros that year, having won the 2016 mixed doubles title with Switzerland’s Martina Hingis.
Bopanna became the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title at the age of 43. Bopanna and his Australian partner, Matthew Ebden, defeated the Italian pair of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the men’s doubles final of the 2024 Australian Open.
Among Rohan Bopanna’s many doubles partners were Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, India’s Mahesh Bhupathi, Croatia’s Ivan Dodig, Australia’s Matthew Ebden and, most recently, American Ben Shelton.
His last stint in ATP doubles came alongside Russian-born Kazakh Alexander Bublik at the 2025 Paris Masters, where the duo failed to advance past the round of 16. Bopanna and Shelton reached the semi-finals of the Swiss Indoors in October.
“As I write this, my heart is both heavy and grateful” – moving statement by Rohan Bopanna
An emotional Rohan Bopanna said it felt “surreal” to find himself under the lights of the world’s biggest arenas after cutting wooden blocks in Coorg to strengthen his serve.
He also noted that his entry into the field taught him perseverance and resilience.
“As I write this, my heart is both heavy and grateful. Starting my journey from a small town in Coorg, India, cutting wooden blocks to strengthen my serve, jogging through coffee plantations to build endurance, and chasing my dreams on cracked courts to standing under the lights of the world’s biggest arenas – it all seems surreal,” Bopanna wrote on X.
“Every time I stepped onto a court, it taught me perseverance, resilience, to rise up, to fight again, when everything in me said I couldn’t – and most of all it reminded me why I started and who I am,” said the two-time Grand Slam champion.
Bopanna, who will represent the SG Pipers in the upcoming Tennis Premier League season, also thanked his fellow players.
“To my fellow players, thank you for the respect, the rivalries and the brotherhood,” he said.
The all-Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna finished fourth in the mixed doubles event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Edited by Subhashish Majumdar
