Mumbai, March 25 (IANS) When Rohan Bopanna decided to quit the international circuit in November 2025, Indian tennis fans had only one question on their mind -- will India produce another Grand Slam winner in the next few years?
Bopanna won the Men's Doubles title at the Australian Open 2024 with local star Matthew Ebden to add to the Mixed Doubles crown he claimed at the 2017 French Open, Gabriela Dabrowski. His 2024 title made Bopanna, at 43 years, 10 months, and 24 days, the oldest major winner in the Open Era.
Bopanna's retirement brought the curtains down on a golden era of Indian tennis -- a quarter century of excellence at the Grand Slam level started by the venerable Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi and taken forward by Bopanna and Sania Mirza.
That legacy ended with the retirement of Bopanna, who, like the other three mentioned modern-day tennis deities of the country, ascended to the top, holding the No.1 position in doubles in the ATP Rankings.
However, Bopanna cuts through the skepticism and says that though it will be difficult to continue that legacy, success at the international stage will continue, and India will soon celebrate another Grand Slam winner.
"Yeah (we will have one). You know, because if you look at the current guys we've been supporting from the Davos Dream of India with Yuki Bambri, (Sriram) Balaji, Vikram, Arjun, and a few. I mean, you know so many of them are part of this programme, and they've already been in the top 100, you know, playing their Grand Slams. Yeah, it's definitely possible," Bopanna told IANS in an exclusive interview facilitated by ASICS India, with which he has been associated for a long time.
Asked to further peep into the mirror and predict the future for Indian tennis, Bopanna said filling the large shoes of Leander and Mahesh will be tough to fill straight away, but India definitely has a good chance to get on a similar pathway. He said the main thing will be to have a proper structure for a long period.
"I think it's a tough shoe to fill straight away. We still have a long way to go. We have definitely had the potential, and now with good government support, corporate support, everyone coming through, and a lot of tournaments happening in India, I think we definitely have a good chance to get on a similar pathway. Still, the main thing is to have and sustain a structure like this for a long period of time," said Bopanna.
Indeed, it will be a huge challenge to replicate the nearly three decades of the golden era of Indian tennis in which Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna, and Sania Mirza won multiple Grand Slam titles in men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles.
Bopanna, who is still active as a player and mentor of SC Pipers in the Tennis Premier League, is doing his bit through the Rohan Bopanna Foundation, giving it back to the sport he loves by training and mentoring the future tennis stars.
--IANS
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