Coffee connoisseur Rohan Bopanna on Saturday credited the special Indian blends he consumes on Tour for his success after the 43-year-old became the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion by winning the men’s doubles title at the BNP Paribas Open.
Bopanna and his playing partner Matthew Ebden of Australia beat the top-ranked pair of Dutchman Wesley Koolhof and Briton Neal Skupski 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 to claim their second title together and first of the season.
“Truly special. It’s called Tennis Paradise for a reason. I’ve been coming here over the years and seeing all these guys win, and I’m really happy that Matt and I were able to do this and get this title here,” Bopanna said.
Photo: AFP
“There have been some tough matches, close matches and today we played against one of the best teams out there, so I’m really happy we got the title,” he added.
Former doubles world No. 3 Bopanna, whose family owns a coffee plantation in the Kodagu district of the south Indian state of Karnataka, said the drink was the secret of his success.
“It’s the Indian coffee that I keep having when traveling. That’s the secret. The biggest thing is to make sure you recover well after matches and that’s really helped me,” Bopanna said.
Bopanna beat the record held by former partner Daniel Nestor and said that taking care of his body had paid off.
“That’s the most important part, especially when you’re getting older. Some days I tell Matt I maybe just practiced 20 minutes, but I’d rather rest the body and be ready for our matches,” Bopanna said.
“That’s really been the key. I spoke to Danny and told him: ‘Sorry, I’m going to beat your record.’ Being in the final, I was already the oldest and winning the final that stays with me. Really happy with that,” he said.
Indian doubles great Mahesh Bhupathi hailed former playing partner Bopanna’s longevity and ability to peak late in his career.
“Bring it home Bofors,” Bhupathi wrote on Twitter, alluding to the nickname Bopanna has earned because of his booming serve.
“Bofors gone where no Indian man has gone before ... The distance in the desert! Keep climbing,” he added.
In the men’s singles, the sixth-ranked Daniil Medvedev — who had never made it past the fourth round at Indian Wells — survived a late surge from Frances Tiafoe for a 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory over the 16th-ranked American.
He and Carlos Alcaraz were yesterday to battle for their first title at the tournament, after top-seed Alcaraz defeated 13th-ranked Italian Jannik Sinner 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to reach his third final of the year.
Additional reporting by AFP
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying on Saturday crashed out of the BWF All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, with South Korea’s Se Young-an denying the world No. 3 Tai a chance at a fourth All England title. In a replay of their semi-final showdown last year, the world No. 2 Se again beat Tai, saving four match points in a thrilling deciding game to prevail 17-21, 21-19, 24-22. Tai won the women’s singles title in Birmingham in 2017, 2018 and 2020. In the three times the two superstars faced each other prior to Saturday, Tai, 22, had only come out on top once, when
California-born Lars Nootbaar had never played for Japan before the World Baseball Classic, but he has become so popular in his adopted country that sales of pepper mills have shot up in tribute to his trademark celebration. The 25-year-old outfielder — the first player born outside Japan to represent the country at the tournament — mimics twisting a pepper mill after each hit to show he wants to “grind out” a win for his team. The celebration has become a smash hit during Japan’s games in Tokyo, with Nootbaar’s teammates jumping on the bandwagon and fans bringing pepper grinders to the stadium. Nootbaar
LAST ONE STANDING: The world No. 3 was the only Taiwanese left in the tournament, while there were upsets in the men’s singles and the women’s doubles Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Thursday defeated Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-19, 21-12 to reach the quarter-finals of the BWF All England Open in Birmingham. Tai, the world No. 3, needed only 40 minutes to close out the round-of-16 matchup at the Utilita Arena. In the opening game, the Taiwanese shuttler established an early 10-5 cushion, before an aggressive Ongbamrungphan fought her way back into the tie, winning nine straight points to take a 10-14 lead. The pair traded the lead to bring the scores to 18-19, but Tai held her nerve to close out the first game. After a 2-2 tie early in
When Taiwan lost to Cuba 7-1 at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) on Sunday, it was an opportunity missed. A win would have sent the team to the quarter-finals in Tokyo. Instead, the loss gave Taiwan a 2-2 record, the same as the other four teams in Pool A, but they finished last because of tiebreakers. So, was the team’s performance a success or a failure? The 2-2 record would suggest somewhere in between, but two baseball experts, National Taiwan Sport University (NTSU) associate professor Kung Jung-tang and veteran commentator Tseng Wen-cheng, gave Taiwan’s WBC performance a resounding thumbs-up. “The team’s offensive showing was
RSS