Bopanna becomes the oldest number one in men's doubles history after a 7-6 (7/0), 7-5 victory against Italian pair Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.
The Australian Matthew Ebden and the Indian Rohan Bopanna triumphed on Saturday over the Italian couple Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori to be crowned men's doubles at the Australian Open 2024.
With today's 7-6 (7/0), 7-5 victory against the Italians, Bopanna, 43, has also become the oldest number one in the history of men's doubles.
This triumph marked their maiden title as a team and, notably, was Bopanna's first victory in men's doubles after participating in 60 previous Grand Slams, an unprecedented record for the most attempts before achieving a victory.
The 43-year-old will officially achieve the title of oldest number one in men's doubles when the new rankings are published next week.
Bopanna had previously achieved a Grand Slam victory at the 2017 French Open in mixed doubles, partnering Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski.
For Ebden, this marked his second men's doubles title, with his first victory coming at Wimbledon in 2022 alongside fellow Australian Max Purcell.
The long-awaited trophy for the Indian tennis player came in his best ever performance at Melbourne Park. In her previous 16 Australian Open appearances, Bopanna's greatest achievement was reaching the third round, a feat she accomplished six times, most recently in 2018, before facing a string of consecutive first-round losses, including one with Ebden in 2023.
Although the result showed a straight sets victory for the second-seeded pair, it was a very close battle that included only one break of serve when Bopanna and Ebden broke Vavassori at love in the eleventh game of the second set.
Bopanna and Ebden sought an early breakthrough in the contest against an unseeded pair, creating break point opportunities in consecutive games. However, they were denied on both occasions as the first set headed to a tiebreaker.
The Indo-Australian pair never lost a deciding set during the fortnight, which included two super tiebreakers. This record remained intact as they won all seven points on offer to take a one-set lead.
