Twilight News Edition 537
Edition 537, 11th September 2023
ROHAN BOPANNA, OLDEST GRAND SLAM DOUBLES FINAL TENNIS PLAYER, PERFORMS A FASCINATING GESTURE
By Saachi Mehra
Rohan Bopanna, aged 43, is the oldest person to ever compete in a Grand Slam Doubles Final. Although he didn’t go home with a trophy that day, he was not empty-handed. He performed an incredible gesture that astonished millions of tennis fans. One of his opponents, Rajeev Ram, claimed that in his more than 20-year-long career, he had never seen anything quite like it.
The score was 2-4, and in the decider of the final, and Mr Bopanna’s partner, Matthew Ebden, was trying to hold his serve. Suddenly, he hit a smashing forehand and earned them a very necessary point, getting them to a 15-15 in the seventh game. But Mr Bopanna went up to the umpire with a request to conceive the point (which means to give the point to the opponents). His reason was before reaching the other edge of the court, the ball brushed past his right arm. The umpire did not notice this, and asked, “Are you conceding the point?”, to which Mr Bopanna responded, “I said it touched my hand so obviously I am conceding the point”. Indeed, the ball had brushed past Mr Bopanna’s arm, as depicted by the front-on relays. But it was so faint that everyone missed it except for Mr Bopanna himself.
Rajeev Ram and his partner, Joe Salisbury, were amazed and repeatedly asked for the reason for their opponents’ choice. The match was won by them, with the score being 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 (the first duo to do a treble ever in the US Open), Rajeev Ram applauded Mr Bopanna’s spirit and integrity, by stating, “What Rohan did was incredible. I've been playing professional tennis for 20-25 years now and I haven't seen anything like that in my career. This speaks a lot about his character”.
Compiled and Edited by Saachi Mehra