Good Sports: Boppanna Demonstrates Good Sportsmanship
India’s Rohan Bopanna and his partner Matthew Ebden were down 2-4 in the third set of the U.S. Open men’s doubles final when Ebden hit a forehand cross-court winner. But instead of taking the point, Bopanna went to the referee and owned up to an infraction.
“When Matt hit that forehand cross-court, the ball hit my elbow. I don’t think anybody really saw it, so I claimed it on myself,” Bopanna said. “That’s the person I have been through my career, and I really feel if something—it doesn’t matter what the scoreline or what the occasion of the match is—if something was not right, it was not right.”
Rajeev Ram, who won the match with his partner Joe Salisbury, gave credit to Bopanna during the trophy presentation.
“We have been playing for the better part of 20, 25 years on Tour together and I have never seen anything like that,” Ram said, adding that Bopanna is “an inspiration to all of us.”
Bopanna, 43, has been a grand slam finalist six times, winning the 2017 French Open mixed doubles title with Gabriela Dabrowski.
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Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
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