Bengaluru Boy Bopanna wins maiden grand slam in French Open, to be recommended for Arjuna Award

Bengaluru’s Rohan Bopanna and Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski won their mixed doubles tennis match against Columbia’s Robert Farah and Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld at the French Open in Paris This was Bopanna's as well as Dabrowski’s first grand slam win The All India Tennis Association (AITA) has decided to send Rohan Bopanna's name to the government for this year's Arjuna Award

It was a double delight for Bengaluru’s Rohan Bopanna and Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski as they celebrated winning their mixed doubles tennis match against Columbia’s Robert Farah and Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld at the French Open in Paris.This was Bopanna's as well as Dabrowski’s first grand slam win.

The Bengaluru star opened the season with a doubles win in Chennai Open. He went on to win Monte Carlos, and finally, the win at Roland Garros earned him the first grand slam of his career. 

This is Bopanna’s personal best. He was often overlooked throughout his career. Selectors had questioned his not winning a ‘Major’ while sending a contingent to the 2016 Rio Olympics. 
However, the seventh-seeded Indo-Canadian pair started badly when they lost the first set 2-6. However, they made a brilliant comeback with 6-2 and 12-10. They did go down 7-9 in a super tie-breaker before the final set.

Rohan Bopanna is the fourth Indian after Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza to have won a Major. Mixed doubles was the first slam India won in tennis. This was 20 years ago when Mahesh Bhupathi teamed up with Japan’s Rika Hiraki to win a Slam, in a French Open.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) has decided to send Rohan Bopanna's name to the government for this year's Arjuna Award.

AITA Secretary General Hironmoy Chatterjee told PTI, “We will recommend Rohan's name for Arjuna today. We have recommended his name several times in the past, but the previous committees did not give him the award. Now he deserves this honour.”