Madikeri: Indian tennis player Machhada Rohan Bopanna made a dream comeback in the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, where he won the Grand Slam title in the mixed doubles final.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah congratulated Rohan Bopanna, a native of Kodagu, when the ace tennis player met the former at his office and announced a cash prize of Rs 10 Lakh on behalf of the state government. He patted Rohan Bopanna on the occasion and wished him success in the future too.
In reality, it has been a hard drawn struggle for the tennis star to reach the top. It has been around 14 years since he stepped onto a tennis court in search of a grand slam title. Rohan Bopanna, son of Mallika and Bopanna couple from Madapur in Kodagu, won the recent French Open mixed doubles title partnering Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada.
The Indo-Canadian pair, who lost the first set, made a strong comeback to down their opponents 2-6, 6-2, 12-10 to win the final. This was only for the second time that Bopanna made it to the summit clash of a Grand Slam.
The first time the Indian tennis player stormed into the final was during US Open men’s doubles in 2010 with Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq-Qureshi before they eventually lost to the Bryan brothers-Bob and Mike.
With the win, Bopanna became only the fourth Indian to claim a Grand Slam Trophy, with the other three being- Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, and Mahesh Bhupathi.
Minister for Fisheries, Sports and Youth Affairs Pramodh Madhwaraj too was present on the occasion.
