"I Was On 2-3 Painkillers A Day...": Rohan Bopanna's Journey To US Open 2023 Final

India's doubles ace Rohan Bopanna, who is playing some of the best tennis of his career, became the oldest Grand Slam doubles finalist in the Open Era as he and his doubles partner Matthew Ebden reached the US Open final.  Producing outstanding tennis at the Flushing Meadows in front of a handsome Louis Armstrong crowd, Bopanna and Matthew Ebden defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in Thursday's semifinals to set a summit clash against Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. In April 2021, Bopanna said he was wondering why he was still playing tennis. The Indian star had just lost a match in Estoril with Alexander Bublik. He had lost all seven matches he had played at the start of the season, winning only a single set.

“I was sitting near the ocean and I was telling myself, ‘What am I even doing? I'm not even winning matches, I have a family at home. Should I just call it a day and just go back?'. Our daughter was four years old right now and I thought, ‘Why not? Let's do that,” Bopanna told ATPTour.com.

Instead, Bopanna continued on and is playing some of the best tennis of his career. Bopanna and Matthew Ebden will play Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury for the US Open title on Friday.

The Indian has won five ATP Masters 1000 titles with five different partners, although he has never won a major championship in men's doubles. Not bad for someone whose knees lack cartilage.

“It's worn out completely. It's just worn out. It's not a tear. Both my knees have no cartilage and in 2019 I was on two, or three painkillers a day. [In] 2020 I started Iyengar yoga, and that actually made a tremendous difference. I went from two, or three painkillers a day to no painkillers today. I think the only time sometimes I take an