You might think I am writing this because I am 43 years old. No, I am writing this because Rohan Bopanna is 43 and Jurgen Klopp, 56.
They both had big moments this week – albeit in contrasting ways. Bopanna first became the oldest to reach the ATP World No. 1 ranking (doubles), and then the oldest* Grand Slam winner in the Open era when he lifted the men’s doubles trophy at the Australian Open along with partner Matthew Ebden. Meanwhile, Klopp, who was contracted to be Liverpool manager until the end of the 2024/25 season, made a shock announcement that he will step down at the end of this season.
Bopanna’s is a story of perseverance – this is his first grand slam title in 62 tries – and of rediscovering lost motivation. Klopp’s is a tale of preempting burnout. And both come from a place of intense love for what they professionally do. Klopp has been a heavy metal high intensity manager always, leaving everything on the football pitch (almost including his wedding ring the other day) but beneath it he is also intensely human. Bopanna has been a consummate tennis professional since he hit the tour back in 1999 – the one thousands to the Gen Zs – but always somehow the bridesmaid and never the bride. Fruitless years of toil on the tennis tour take a physical and mental toll. Tennis is a lonely sport, and Bopanna was on the precipice of giving it up in 2019, having pretty much lost his knees. But then, an epiphany struck him thanks to his wife Supriya, who he quotes as saying:
“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”
Bopanna started rebuilding, instilling discipline, and, as Zenia D’Cunha writes for ESPN India, by “accounting for his age”. That recognition of the age and the limitations showed him the path out, and he fell in love with the game again, which is evident in his demeanour and the fact that just last year he became the oldest man to win an ATP 1000 Masters title, won an Asian Games gold medal, and reached two grand slam finals. After finally ending that title drought today, he simply said “Never be in a hurry…and never ever doubt yourself” when asked by Sania Mirza (who he played alongside in her last professional match – the AO mixed doubles final in 2023) what message he would like to give to India. The message is universal, and this writer being of the same age took a lot of heart and inspiration from it.
But I also took a lot of heart and inspiration from Klopp’s shock announcement. The german power trainer’s (as a security person frisking me at the Frankfurt airport called him once, after he saw I was wearing a Liverpool shirt) reign at Liverpool has been nothing short of transformational and he has won every major trophy with the club in his almost 9 years here. But he has many a time expressed the desire to just be a “normal guy”. He said during the interview where he announced his decision – “I’m still a normal guy. I just haven’t lived a normal life for too long now. And I don’t want to wait until I’m too old for having a normal life. And I needed at least to give it a try.”
Until I am too old for having a normal life.
Hidden behind those typically Klopp words was an acknowledgment of the fact that burnout is a very real thing. Klopp is stepping down at an age that in the football managerial circles is still relatively young. There is a lot life takes out of us even when we are not in the high intensity week in week out world of pro sport – as a manager or as a player. That happens because time is a crooked thing moving like a straight arrow. Aging works in mysterious ways, but the one thing it reminds us all is that everything is ephemeral.
But what if we broke away from that framing? Like Bopanna himself said, he no longer thinks of 43 as his age, he says he is at ‘Level 43’. Recognising that can be incredibly liberating. That is why I am celebrating both Bopanna and Klopp. Because they have both shown a path to how one can unleash joy when you recognise your age for the variable it is – one that should not change your equation with happiness in life, only its frame of reference.
(*oldest male GS winner in the Open Era to be precise)
Get Sporty 