Tennis legend Novak Djokovic joined celebration with Rohan Bopanna’s stellar feat in Australian Open at Melbourne Park en route to the Indian tennis great’s third Grand Slam final alongside Australia’s Matthew Ebden in men’s doubles.
Bopanna and Ebden reached their second consecutive Grand Slam final together after beating second seed Zhang Zhizhen and Tomas Machac 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) in a tight encounter under the closed roof at the Rod Laver Arena.
Bopanna and Ebden will next face the winner of the second semifinal between Germany’s Dominik Koepfer and Yannick Hanfmann, and Italian combination of Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli at the very same Rod Laver Arena. The Indian would be eyeing his first men’s doubles Grand Slam trophy.
With a win in the quarterfinal, against the Argentinian duo of Máximo González and Andrés Molteni, Bopanna became the oldest first-time world No. 1 in ATP men’s doubles ranking history. The record was previously held by USA’s Rajeev Ram.
Amid the celebrations in India, Djokovic shared a story on Instagram with a hilarious message for Bopanna.
“Congratulations Bops. Amazing effort. And to do it at such a young age. Even more impressive,” the caption read.