LONDON: Rohan Bopanna was like a teenager on his first trek at Wimbledon, exploring the neoteric Media Terrace. He climbed an extra flight of stairs from the fifth floor to arrive at an expansive verandah, oohing and aahing. He snapped several panoramic images of the All-England Club, Centre Court to his right, stopping only to pose.
The 43-year-old’s energy is infectious. It will be his 13th Wimbledon. And not for the first time in a major, he’s the oldest player in the draw.
Bopanna and Aussie Matthew Ebden, who are number four in the doubles race, very much in the hunt for a place in the season-ending championships, open against Argentines Guillermo Duran and Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Bopanna, who in March became the oldest winner of a Masters event, when the Indo-Aussie pairing clinched the title in Indian Wells, is looking for a first match win in the majors in 2023, having lost in the opening round in Melbourne and Paris.
“It was just our second match as a team at the Australian Open, at the French Open, we should’ve won that match,” Bopanna said.
Bopanna, who will play the mixed event with Gabriela Dabrowski, with who he won the 2017 French Open, thought the Argentines were as good an opening bout as he could’ve hoped for.
