Legendary pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna are through to the mixed doubles finals at the Australian Open as they defeated 3rd seed and reigning Wimbledon champs of the last two years in the semis.
The dream remains alive, your first one here was an early one in 2009 and now 2023 you got an opportunity for maybe more Silverware.
SM : Yeah, it was an amazing match and obviously there was a lot of nerves. Playing my last slam and it’s so special to play with Rohan, he was my first mixed doubles partner when I was 14 years old. I was 14 and he was 20 and today I am 36 and he is 42 and we are still playing, so we have a solid relationship. We are so excited to comeback here and give ourselves another chance and we were playing one of the best mixed doubles team on tour and we knew we had to come up with our best and yeah I am glad we were able to do that.
You were showing your hand just a little bit earlier before so it’s stopped shaking ?
SM : It stopped shaking, yeah kind of…it’s getting there (laughs)
Rohan I’ll ask you about that last tiebreaker. It was a lot of nerves, couple of different thoughts.
RB : No absolutely as Sania mentioned it was a tough team we were playing there and specially when you had so many chances it’s not easy to keep the momentum going. Having lost that 2nd set with match points I think we stayed strong got an early lead and that’s what kept our momentum and then we came up with some good shots. And yeah never easy playing at these moments but yeah really really happy to be sharing the court with Sania, I mean it’s been an incredible journey from Sania inspiring everyone back home and today so many fans come here and cheer us. Thank you to everybody and yeah one more to go so looking forward to it!
What would it mean it to you if you can send out the legend (pointing to Sania) with a little Silverware?
RB : I think that would be the absolute dream you can’t get anything better than that. To finish the last slam with a title I think it will be really special and we need it in India, we need to keep inspiring everyone back there and I think this is the only way to keep it going.
Sania the crowd behind you at Margaret Court Arena is terrific, what are your emotions right now ?
SM : I am so emotional, I don’t cry in front of people but I am almost there right now. And thank you so much guys it means so much I feel the love for 18 years that I have been coming here and it feels like home for me honestly cause I got family here, I eat at home, I get so much home food and I have all this Indians coming out and supporting me for the last 18 years and it’s been quiet a journey and I am really gonna miss coming back here.
Full post match conversation video below :
