Great feeling: Bopanna receives the award from Viren Rasquinha, proper, and L.V. Navaneeth, CEO, The Hindu Group, as Leander Paes applauds.
| Photo Credit: Ok.R. Deepak
Australian Open males’s doubles champion Rohan Bopanna gained the Ace of Aces award on the Sportstar Aces Awards 2024 held on the Taj Mahal Palace right here on Thursday.
Bopanna acquired the award from fellow tennis participant and Grand Slam champion, Leander Paes. “I always wished I could play doubles with Bopanna,” Paes mentioned.
Bopanna not too long ago turned the oldest participant, aged 43, to attain the World No. 1 rating in males’s doubles.
Wonderful athletes
“We are constantly travelling and playing tournaments, so it feels great to come here and meet all these wonderful athletes that India has produced. My goal was to win a men’s doubles Grand Slam and to reach the World No. 1 ranking. After years and years of sacrifice, I have finally realised my dream,” Bopanna mentioned.
“It is very humbling for me to reach these heights from the beautiful land of Coorg. It was my parents who insisted that I train in an individual sport. That is when my tennis journey started, in Coorg. And now I have gone all the way across the world to win a Grand Slam in Melbourne,” Bopanna mentioned.
He defined that his concentrate on sufficient restoration modified the trail of his profession. “I started to focus on recovery at the end of 2019. My cartilages in the knee had fully worn out. I took around two or three painkillers a day. Doctor told me to try platelet-rich plasma injections. But just injections will not work; I had to do strengthening exercises. That’s when I discovered Iyengar Yoga.
“I was in extreme pain, so I gave it a try. Because of Iyengar Yoga, I can now play tennis without pain. I never thought this day will come,” Bopanna mentioned.
