Rohan Bopanna and partner Mathew Ebden beat the Czech-Chinese pair of Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7) to advance to men’s doubles final at the 2024 Australian Open. This only the third men’s doubles Grand Slam final for 43-year-old Bopanna and the second straight for them as a pair after the US Open last year.
After the win, Bopanna and Ebden spoke to the reporters at the press conference. Excerpts:
Q: How special is it to be having another shot at a Grand Slam title on Saturday night?
Bopanna: It’s amazing to be back in another Grand Slam final, and a different Grand Slam — I know for Matt it’s definitely the home Grand Slam. For me also I consider this a lot to be the home Grand Slam, coming from the Asian continent.
I think the matchup today was tough. The guys really made us work through every single point, every single game. I think Matt and me held strong more than once out there. The guys, even when I served for the match, we were expecting big returns, and unfortunately I got broken there. Next game we had three match points, and credit to Zhang, the way he played, there is one match point where he hit I think 200-plus on the serve and Matt got the return back. That one forehand went so fast past me. Before I even could move the racquet, it was gone (smiling).
But I think overall the experience of playing together I think helped us come through that super-tiebreak there, for sure.
Ebden: Another Slam final here. It’s match by match, that’s what we’ve learned. Even the last few months, lots of finals. We’ve won some to win some titles and we lost a few too. We know just to think of it as one more match and just go through there and fight for one more match at a time. I’m really not going to do anything other than that. I’m not looking too far ahead. Just another tough match on Saturday. But of course, very happy and excited at the same time.
Persistence pays off ��@rohanbopanna reaches his first #AusOpen men’s doubles final in his 17th attempt! pic.twitter.com/lSZtqgpNHE
– #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 25, 2024
Q. You had the experience two years ago, obviously reaching the final. What would it mean to your whole career to get the chance to win a home Slam?
Ebden: Definitely. I’ve been lucky to have won this tournament in mixed doubles some years back, I know what that feels like. I’ll count that as a blessing, for sure. Of course, the plan is to win it here, this one. Hopefully many more.
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