Rohan Bopanna, 43, becomes oldest Indian Wells champion | Tennis News

INDIAN WELLS: Indian Rohan Bopanna became the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion when he and his Australian partner Matt Ebden won the men’s doubles crown at the BNP Paribas Open here.
The 43 year old man A boy and Ebden, 35, beat the top seed Wesley Koolhof from the Netherlands and Neil Skupski of Great Britain 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 in the final on Saturday.
“Really special. It’s called Tennis Paradise for a reason,” said Bopanna, playing in his 10th ATP Masters 1000 final.

“Over the years I’ve come here and watched all these guys win for so many years. I’m really happy that Matt and I were able to do that and get this title here.
“It was tough games, tight games. Today we played against one of the best teams. Really happy to have won the trophy.”
Bopanna thus overtook Canada’s Daniel Nestor, who won the 2015 Cincinnati Masters to become the oldest champion at the age of 42.

“I spoke to Danny Nestor and told him sorry for breaking his record,” he joked. “Winning the title stays with me, so really happy with that.”
It was the 43-year-old’s fifth Masters 1000 doubles title and first since winning Monte Carlo in 2017. It was the Indian-Australian duo’s third final of the year. He now holds 24 tower-level trophies in his cabinet.

The Indo-Australian pair stunned John Isner and twice desert titlists in defense and Jack Sock in the semi-finals, while getting the better of Canadian singles stars Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov in the neighborhoods.

Bopanna and Ebden had won Raphael Matos And David Vega Hernandez in their opening match.
Former world No. 3, Bopanna jumped four places to No. 11 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles rankings.