It was hardly a month ago that Rohan Bopanna, during an interview with this correspondent, said: “My dream is to win a Grand Slam, one day.”
And the 30-year old Coorgi star has taken a huge step towards achieving that goal by making the US Open men's doubles semifinals with Pakistani partner, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi beating the 10th-seeded pair of Weslie Moodie and Dick Norman 7-5, 7-6(2).
An ecstatic Bopanna, in a message, said: “I am overwhelmed by this victory. It was such a closely fought match. Our opponents were really tall, standing over six feet seven inches and their serves were too hot to handle. We stayed focused and played positive tennis and told each other that we had come this far and that we needed to keep going… we had nothing to lose.”
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi, the 16th seeds, now take on the unseeded Argentine duo of Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zeballos for a place in the final.
C.G. Krishna Bhupathi, one of Bopanna's early mentors at the Tennis Village in Bangalore, said: “I am very thrilled… It has been a phenomenal run for Rohan and Aisam, who have now beaten almost all the top pairs in the world. I have no doubt the boys will soon be among the very top teams just as Mahesh (Bhupathi) and Leander (Paes) were.
“I've always told Rohan that he has the game to make it big and he is fulfilling my faith.”
P. Srinath, the former Davis Cupper who also trained Bopanna, said: “Rohan always had the potential. Reaching a Grand Slam semifinal is a huge achievement, which is bound to push up his confidence in a big way.
“Rohan and Aisam are very much a great new pair in the men's doubles.”
