Rohan Bopanna (born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player. His singles career-high ranking was world No. 213 in 2007 and his career-high ranking in doubles was world No. 3 on 22 July 2013. He has been a member of the Indian Davis Cup team since 2002.

Bopanna partnered with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in doubles in 2007. The duo, nicknamed the IndoPak Express, went on to win four Challenger titles in quick succession. However, it was only in the 2010 season that the pair broke into the top-ten doubles teams. That year, they reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, finished runners-up in the US Open and in five ATP Tour events, and won the Johannesburg Open.

The Indian has won five Masters 1000 men's doubles tournaments: the 2011 and 2012 Paris Masters, the 2015 Madrid Open,the 2017 Monte Carlo Masters, and the 2023 Indian Wells Masters. He was a finalist at the ATP World Tour Finals in 2012 and 2015. The player also won the 2017 French Open mixed-doubles title with Gabriela Dabrowski becoming the fourth Indian player to win a Grand Slam title.

Early life

Rohan began playing tennis at the age of 11 because his father wanted him to pursue an individual sport. He did enjoy other games like hockey and football, but by the time he turned 19, tennis became his main priority. His father, M. G. Bopanna, is a coffee planter, and his mother, Malika Bopanna, is a housewife. Both his parents are ardent supporters of Rohan's career. They live in Coorg/ Kodagu District in the South Indian State of Karnataka, which is a six-hour drive from Bangalore. He has an older sister who lives in Mumbai. Growing up, Rohan idolized and was greatly influenced by Stefan Edberg. He made his Davis Cup debut for India versus Australia in September 2002 and turned pro in 2003. He completed his education from Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College which comes under the umbrella of Jain University, Bengaluru.

Tennis career

1995s: Junior Career

1996: First Junior Tournament

Bopanna entered his 1st ever ITF Junior tournament which was India ITF Junior World Ranking Event 1996. He won his singles 1st round match against Girish Ramchandani in straight sets. This was his 1st win in the junior level on his 1st appearance. But he lost his next match in straight sets to Yeni Sandeep in straight sets. In the doubles, he partnered Akshay Jagdale where they lost in straight sets to Harsh Mankad and Rishi Sridhar.

1997: First Junior Title

Bopanna started the year at Indian ITF Junior Tournament 1 where he had qualified for main draw by getting a bye and beating compatriots Vivek Bhakuni, Nikhil Murali and Arjun Shetty respectively all in straight sets. But he lost in the 1st round to Vijayendra Laad 1-6,6-2,4-6. In the doubles he partnered Samrat Bhasin but they also lost in 1st round to Austrians Christoph Haid and Hubert Suppan in straight sets. Bopanna won the 1st Arab Championships with Rohan Saikia. This was his 1st ever Junior Level Title. He then won Arab Contractors International Junior Championships with Rohan Saikia.

He and Rohan then made it to the semi-finals of Kuwait Junior Open where they lost in a high tense match to pair of German Airan Kiebel and Pakistani Syed Nasir AliSherazi 4-6,7-6,4-6. He ended the year at Duncans ITF Junior World Tennis Championships where he had a 2nd round exit in singles losing to Tembe Kedar and in doubles he partnered with Vijayendra Laad where they lost at semi-finals to top seeds and eventual winners Indo-Brit pair of Manoj Mahadevan and James Auckland in straight sets. He achieved his highest ITF Junior Ranking of 601 on 31 December.

1998-1999: Last Junior Tournaments and Early Senior Career

Bopanna started the year by winning Indian ITF Junior Tournament 1 with Bhatt Ravikiran. In the next tournament which was Indian ITF Junior Tournament 2, they were top seeds but got ousted by Saif Ali and Vijay Kannan in first round. He retired in Quarter-finals of singles to Vijay Kannan in first set. At Namangan International Junior Tournament, he lost in first round to Sergei Pozdnev in straight sets, he was top seed in doubles with Denis Surotin where easily won their first round in straight sets but lost in Quarter-finals. He again had a first round exit in singles at 18th Tashkent International Junior Tournament where he lost to 8th seeded Denis Kurmatov in straight sets but reached semi-finals of doubles with Sergei Pozdnev where they lost to 2nd seeds in straight sets. He then again reached semi-finals of EA-Generali-Cup with Bhatt Ravikiran where they again lost to 2nd seeds in straight sets. But his bad form in the singles continued as be failed to qualify for main draw after losing to Andreas Reinsprecht in 2nd round after receiving bye in first round as he was seeded 3rd.

He again reached semi-finals with Bhatt Ravikiran at ITF Frankfurt Championships where they lost in straight sets. This was his 3rd consecutive semi-final appearance in doubles. He lost to David Sanger in straight sets in final qualifier round of LTA International Junior Championships. But still received entry in main draw as a lucky loser but his luck didn't continued as he lost to Ignacio Gonzalez-King in straight sets of first round. He entered 42nd Van Keeken Tournament where he lost in singles to Julien Cassaigne in straight sets. In the doubles he was seeded 4th with Bhatt Ravikiran where they lost in Quarter-finals to Jonas Froberg and Alexander Hartman in straight sets. This was Bopanna's junior Career's last tournament he entered.

Bopanna had a very poor performances in early phase of his senior career. He managed to reach finals of India 2 Masters week 2 with Kedar Shah where they lost in straight sets. Many times his singles campaign ended in qualifying rounds and doubles in Quarter-finals.

He ended the 20th century at Jaipur Challenger where he lost to top seed Paradorn Srichaphan in straight sets in first round and in doubles he reached Quarter-finals with Rishi Sridhar where they lost to 3rd seeds Slovaks Martin Hromec and Vladimir Platenik in a thrilling match 6-7,7-6,6-7.

2000s: Early Professional Career

2000–2001: Early Days

Bopanna had started entering ITF Circuit Tournaments but didn't got much success as many times his campaign ended in qualifying rounds or first and second rounds of main draw. He had only some occasional semi-finals and finals appearances in this period. Bopanna began the 21st century at 2000 Gold Flake Open where he lost to Denis Golovanov in straight sets in first round of qualifiers. He entered India F1 Futures where he lost to Mikhail Chadunel in 2nd round of singles after receiving bye in first round. In doubles he partnered Rishi Sridhar but they lost to Mustafa Ghouse and Vishal Uppal in first round. He then reached semi-finals of India F3 Futures with Rishi Sridhar where they lost to Andy Ram and Nir Welgreen and in singles lost to Ganesh Sundararaju in straight sets in 2nd round after receiving bye un first. He ended the year at India F6 Futures where reached Quarter-finals with Vijay Kannan but lost to Viktor Bruthans in singles 2nd round.

He started the year by reaching Quarter-finals of India F1 Futures with Vijay Kannan. He reached semi-finals of India F2 and F3 Futures with Vijay Kannan where both times they lost in straight sets and both he had a first round exit in singles. He reached the finals of India F4 Futures in both singles and doubles. In singles, he lost to Srinath Prahlad in straight sets. This was his first ITF Circuit final. In doubles, he again lost to Prahlad and Ajay Ramaswami in straight sets partnering Vijay Kannan. He then reached the finals of India F5 Futures where he again lost to Srinath Prahlad in straight sets. He then lost to Eyal Erlich in singles semi-finals of India F6 Futures. He ended 2002 season by entering Australia F6 Futures where he had first round exit in singles by Todd Reid in straight sets and reached Quarter-finals in doubles with Ronald Rugimbana.

2002: Success at ITF Circuit, Davis Cup and Asian Games Debut

Bopanna had a good success at ITF futures level in 2002. He won the UAE F2 Futures with his Taiwanese partner Lu Yen-hsun. This was his 1st Futures title. He then won the Sri Lanka F1 Futures with compatriot Vijay Kannan. He then won India F2 Futures by defeating Dmitri Mazur 7-5,5-7,6-4. He also won the doubles with Vijay Kannan. He then won the India F5 Futures both singles and doubles with Vijay Kannan. He made his Davis Cup debut in the World Group Qualifying match against Australia. He lost his singles match against Scott Draper 3-6,5-7. Eventually India lost the tie 0-5 clean sweeped. He was selected for 2002 Asian Games. In the singles, he was seeded 11th but he lost to 3rd seed and eventual bronze medallist Takao Suzuki of Japan 5-7,2-6 in the pre-quarters. In the team event, he won his singles and doubles match with Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya as India easily beat Timor-Leste to enter Quarter-finals. But in the Quarter-finals he lost his important singles match as India lost to Uzbekistan 3-0. He entered Tata Open as a wildcard with his Spanish partner Carlos Cuadrado but they lost in the 1st round in straight sets to Jaroslav Levinský and David Škoch. This was his first ever appearance at main draw of any ATP Tour tournament.

2003: 1st Challenger Series Title

Bopanna started the season at Tata Open where he entered the main draw as a wildcard but he lost in 1st round to Željko Krajan in straight sets. Bopanna was selected for Davis Cup tie against Japan. Bopanna defeated Jun Kato 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4 in one hour 54 minutes for his first win in Davis Cup. India defeated Japan 4-1 in the Asia-Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie. In the next tie against New Zealand, Bopanna went down to Alistair Hunt in a gruelling five setter. But he won his next singles match against James Shortall in straight sets as India won the tie 4-1 to qualify for world group play-offs.

He won the Denver Challenger with his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi where they were the top seeds. This was his first ATP Challenger Series title(now known as ATP Challenger Tour). Before Denver they have reached the semi-finals of Manchester Trophy. He then won Indonesia F1 Futures title where he defeated Febi Wediyanto in the final.

In the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Netherlands, Bopanna lost his singles match against Martin Verkerk. In the important doubles match, he and Mahesh Bhupathi lost to John van Lottum and Martin Verkerk. India were clean sweep 5-0 by Holland in the tie.

Bopanna won 2 gold medals at Afro-Asian Games. In the doubles, he partnered Mahesh Bhupathi where they defeated Adelo Abadia and Johnny Arcilla of Philippines in semi-finals in straight sets. Then, compatriots Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya and Vinod Sridhar 6-4,3-6,6-2 in the gold medal match. In the team event, Bopanna put India on 1-0 lead in the gold medal tie with a run-away 6-2 6-2 win over Rotimi Jegede before Prakash Amritraj overcame Sunday Maku, the top ranked Nigerian, to carve out a 6-4 6-1 victory. In the doubles match, Vijay Kannan and Vishal Uppal blew away Balalola Abdul and Maku 6-1 6-4 as India defeated Nigeria 3-0 in the gold medal match.

2004–2005: More Futures Titles and Struggle with Injuries

Bopanna was out for 8 weeks due to a bicep injury which made him miss 2004 Chennai Open and Davis Cup tie against New Zealand. He started off the season at India F1A Futures where he lost to Alexey Kedryuk in straight sets and in doubles he was 3rd seed with Vijay Kannan but they lost to Rupesh Roy and Divij Sharan. He won the Kuwait F1 Futures tournament with Mustafa Ghouse. In the singles, he reached semi-finals where he lost to the top seed and eventual winner Filip Prpic in straight sets. Before an early end to the season he lastly played at São Paulo Challenger 2 where qualified for main draw after beating Brazilians Alexandre Bonatto, Frederico Casaro and Eduardo Bohrer respectively in straight sets. He again defeated a Brazilian Marcos Daniel in 1st round but he retired in 2nd round match after losing the first set 4–6. In doubles he had a first round exit with Mustafa Ghouse.

Bopanna was then out for almost 9 months due to a career threatening shoulder injury for which he had necessitated a surgery. He made his return at India F3 Futures where he was ousted in first round by Chris Kwon in straight sets. In the doubles he was fourth seed with Vijay Kannan where lost in the Quarter-finals. But he won India F4 Futures with Vijay . His impressive show in the US $10,000 ITF Sri Lanka F1 Futures ended in anti-climax as he lost in the singles final in straight sets to German Peter Mayer-Tischer 7–6(2), 6–2 to finish runner-up in the clay court event. He then lost to Florin Mergea in straight sets of Kuwait F1 Futures. His disappointment was compounded by his loss in the doubles final. In an all-Indian final, he paired with Vijay Kannan but they went down 3–6, 4–6 to Vishal Uppal and Ashutosh Singh.

In the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Sweden, he lost his singles match against Thomas Johansson in straight sets. India lost the tie 3-1. The non-playing captain Mats Wilander later reported that Bopanna twisted his left ankle while going for a return of serve, resulting in a torn tendon and would be out of action for three weeks. He reached the finals of Bukhara Challenger with Kyu-Tae Im, he also reached semi-finals in singles where he lost to eventual champion and 3rd seed Denis Istomin in straight sets. He lost to Bart Beks in straight sets at Seoul Challenger. In the doubles he partnered Korean Kyu-Tae Im where they lost to eventual winners Alexander Peya and Bjorn Phau. He lost in the semi-finals of Australia F10 and F11 Futures both times to Australian Luke Bourgeois. In the doubles he was 2nd seed in both tournaments with Romanian Horia Tecau they lost in the final to Australian pair of Carsten Ball and Andrew Coelho in an intense final and in the Quarter-finals of the latter one in straight sets. He ended the year at India F7 Futures losing to his occasional partner and eventual winner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

2022: Two more ATP Titles, French Open Semifinalist, Return To Top 25

Rohan started the year with an ATP Tour 250 title at 2022 Adelaide International pairing with compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan defeating top seeds Marcelo Melo and Ivan Dodig in straight sets in final. Rohan paired up with Édouard Roger-Vasselin for 2022 Adelaide International 2 and 2022 Australian Open but they had first round exits in both tournaments. He also lost in the first round in the Mixed doubles event with Darija Jurak Schreiber. Two weeks later, he won his second title of the year at the Maharastra Open with Ramkumar Ramanathan by defeating Australian pair of Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith in final. He reached the quarterfinals of the Rotterdam Open and finals of the Qatar Open with Denis Shapovalov losing to pair of Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski both times. Bopanna had a first round exit at Dubai tennis championships with Aslan Karatsev losing to top seeds and eventual finalists Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic.

Bopanna began clay court season with Jamie Murray at 2022 Indian Wells Masters en route to semi-finals defeating 3rd and 7th seeds but losing to top seeds and eventual champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in tie-breaker. At the 2022 French Open he reached the semifinals for the first time at this Major, partnering Matwe Middelkoop defeating en route the second seeds, former World No. 1 pair and 2021 Wimbledon champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic. This was Bopanna's first major semi-finals in men's doubles since 2015 Wimbledon. As a result he returned to the top 25 in the doubles rankings.

Bopanna began grass court season by reaching the semifinals of Stuttgart Open with Denis Shapovalov.

2023: New partnership with Ebden, two titles, oldest ATP Masters champion

In Rotterdam he reached the final with his new partner Matthew Ebden but lost after they held a championship point in the match tiebreak to Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.

He won his first title with Matthew Ebden as a team at the 2023 Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Again partnering Ebden, he won his first title in Indian Wells, defeating defending champions Jack Sock and John Isner in the semifinals and top seeds and world No. 1 pair Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski in the final in a third set super tiebreak becoming the oldest ATP Masters champion at 43 years-old.

Awards

For his efforts in bridging political barriers through sports, Rohan Bopanna was nominated in 2010 as a Champion for Peace by Monaco-based organization, Peace and Sport.

Recognized globally for their campaign "Stop War Start Tennis", Bopanna was awarded the renowned Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award in 2010, along with Qureshi. The duo were also voted winners of the Peace and Sport's Image of the Year award by their fans. He was also awarded the Ekalavya Award by the Government of Karnataka in 2005 for his achievements on court.

Charity

Rohan Bopanna donates part of the profits generated by sales of 'Stop War Start Tennis' merchandise to the not-for-profit organisation 'GoSports Foundation'. In his hometown Coorg, he works towards generating funds for an Opportunity School that caters to the educational needs of physically handicapped children. Rohan also supports the Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences, which endeavours to provide low cost dental treatment and holds several free health and awareness camps.

He is a member of the 'Champions for Peace' club, a Monaco-based international organization placed under the High Patronage of Prince Albert II.