Rohan Bopanna, the king of the doubles courts, saw an exceptional solution in the final match of the US Open.
In the final match of the US Open men’s doubles in tennis, a rare incident that showed great sportsmanship was seen on Friday evening Finnish time.
An experienced 43-year-old Indian in the final Rohan Bopanna and Australian Matthew Ebden faced the US By Rajeev Ram and British Joe Salisbury.
Bopanna and Ebden won the opening set 6–2, Ram and Salisbury the second 6–3. In the third set, with Ram and Salisbury leading 4–2, Bopanna and Ebden appeared to have won the ball, but Bopanna went to tell the referee that the ball hit by Ebden had touched his arm. This is how Bopanna wanted to give a point to the opponents. Neither the referee nor the opponents noticed the contact.
Ram and Salisbury won the third set 6–4 and the entire match at the same time. Bopanna received great appreciation for his work.
– We’ve been playing with Rohan on tour for 20 or 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like that. Especially in a situation like that. We had no idea the ball hit him. It shows the kind of person he is, Ram said on ATP’s website.
In tennis, every now and then we see situations where, for example, a player at the net admits to touching the ball with his racket, even though the referee did not notice it. However, such a situation is very rare, where a player admits to being hit by his own teammate.
– When Matt hit his forehand, the ball hit my elbow. I guess no one saw it, so I told it myself. That’s how I’ve always been. It doesn’t matter what the situation is or what the match is. If one is not right, it is not right. Bopanna stated.