The most positive news updates in Indian tennis in 2023 came from one man: Rohan Bopanna. He became the oldest man to win an ATP Masters 1000 title, reached the final of two Grand Slams, made the season-ending ATP Finals, won a gold medal at the Asian Games, and finished the year as world No 3 in men's doubles.
All this in the year he turned 43 years old. (Just for context, Bopanna made his senior tour debut in 1999 - when Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were at their peak as a doubles pair.)
"This has been the best year on tour," Bopanna tells ESPN. "We finished the number two in the world, so close to finishing up number one... To do it at this juncture of my career, making the final of a Grand Slam, winning gold at the Asian Games, qualifying for the year-end Masters, it's special."
The standout moments for Bopanna were playing the Australian Open mixed doubles final with Sania Mirza in her final Grand Slam, and then making the men's doubles final at US Open after a gap of 13 years.
"A big achievement there was also that India was represented at all these big events in some way. Sometimes this is what a young person needs, to see an Indian out there playing at that level," he says.
And he's begun 2024 in similar fashion: reaching (with Matthew Ebden) the final of the Adelaide Open in Australia, where they lost a very close match. He and Ebden will now play Aussies James Duckworth and Marc Polmans in the first round of the Australian Open early on Wednesday.
His achievements may have flown under the radar, maybe because Indian tennis no longer makes the headlines or because doubles is not given as much weightage. But Bopanna has been doing something special on the ATP Tour at his age. And he has been doing all this without cartilages in his knees and reduced physicality.
The cartilages in both his knees are completely worn out and he almost gave up the sport in 2019, before trying Iyengar yoga during the pandemic-enforced break which helped him rejuvenate and play pain-free. Last year, he further invested in his fitness having a physio travel with him full-time on tour.
"I have certain difficult situations with my body: having no cartilage on my knees, my mobility is not great. So, the most important part was to figure out a way for me to be healthiest when I play. Making sure I did the proper recovery, and focusing more on has helped a lot this year."
Bopanna's 2023 season offers hope to athletes who are past the age that is considered prime in sports. What is the secret sauce for his hunger to keep competing?
"I think the biggest thing is to have the discipline and mental strength. If you set yourself a goal, to have that kind of day in day out of discipline to work out and find what's the best way to achieve it" he says.
"It's not only for tennis, but I think just in general for a lot of athletes who are above 35. There is plenty of time to keep it going, be their best at the highest level. There's nothing really stopping you."
There is a lovely line he quotes from a conversation with his wife Supriya, which can be used to deal with most challenges - the passage of time, fading fitness, the societal rules about timelines.
"My wife said it beautifully one day, 'when you change limitations to opportunities, everything changes.' We are always told at 25 this has to happen, by 30 this has to happen, at 40 this will happen. It's a thing which is told to us constantly, whether it is sport or life, whether it is marriage, having kids, whatever it may be. But when you change that into opportunities, then the limitations go away."
It's this mindset and commitment to a fitness routine that accounts for his age that has helped him stay at the top of the men's doubles in 2023.
The goal for the coming season is to continue more of what he's already been doing. But 2024 is also an Olympic year and by virtue of his very high ranking, Bopanna has all but ensured that Indian tennis will have some representation at the Paris Games.
"At 44 I'll be playing Olympics, if that happens." Bopanna, who retired from India's Davis Cup team in 2023, says. If he qualifies, he will be able to pick another Indian player as his partner, irrespective of their ranking. But he hopes that there can be two Indian pairs in the fray and is working towards making that happen.
"It will be amazing if we do get two teams in, and I genuinely think it's a very much a good possibility. We have six or seven of us in the top 100 of the double's rankings. If I remain top 10, that automatically qualifies us to one spot. If the other guys do well together, they can combine ranking and get in," he explains.
From his end, Bopanna has started a doubles program for Indian players that provides a coach and a physio to travel with them. Pro tennis requires heavy personal funding, which has little return of investment unless you reach the top. This has long been a challenge for Indian players.
Bopanna wants to change that and he's starting with doubles, often sidelined as a back-up to singles. "Everybody asks why there are no singles players. But I'm saying let's help the guys who are here already and then maybe the singles will start the journey. We just need to start a structure. The program has been going on for almost two years. Hence, we have so many players consistently doing well now."
The doubles players had a camp in Bangalore in end-December, with Bopanna to train and guide them. "The camp has helped so many guys now to do well. There is no structure in the country, so how can we just randomly decide that somebody will come up. Everybody who has come up so far has just come up on their own."
This doubles program is run with the help of KPIT, the company who were sponsoring the ATP Challenger events in India, and now funds the support system for players.
"I asked the players how I can help them in their journey, and we decided that to fund coaches and physios to travel with them so that the players don't have that kind of burden on them. When you're playing Challengers, you're not making so much of money. By doing this one thing, literally today everybody is at a career high in doubles. It's been incredible years to have almost 10-11 Indians in the top 200 right now."
There is a lot to change in Indian tennis and Bopanna hopes to do so, little by little and leading by example.