Indian Express on track, for Olympics’ sake

Bhupathi says he and Paes should put aside their off-the-court differences for the sake of getting a medal for the country

MELBOURNE: Mahesh Bhupathi believes he and Leander Paes will have no trouble putting their off-the-court differences behind at the Olympic Games.

The former world number one pair, nicknamed ‘Indian Express’, won three Grand Slam titles together between 1999 and 2001 but have had a turbulent relationship for several years.

Despite their differences, Bhupathi and Paes are set to team up for India again in Beijing, having finished fourth at the Athens Games four years ago.

They have not played together since December 2006, when they won the Asian Games doubles gold medal in Doha, after which they announced they would never play together again. Their quarrel in Qatar was a public affair, with both criticising each other after Paes questioned Bhupathi’s fitness and commitment following India’s early exit from the men’s team event.

The lure of the Olympics appears to be too strong for either of them to ignore, however. Paes recently said he would be happy for them to reunite and Bhupathi now says he was sure they would do well together.

“I think logically that (playing with Paes) would be the best choice for the country, we want to win a medal,” Bhupathi said.

“The chemistry is still there. Every time we have taken a break and come back, we have found a way to put our differences aside and win, so hopefully that will happen again. They (the problems) have been happening for a long time, so we’ve learnt to deal with it,” he added.

Each move Bhupathi and Paes make together in Beijing is bound to be closely scrutinised back home, where they are worshipped as sporting heroes almost at par with the country’s cricketers. Bhupathi, at 33 a year younger than Paes, said he enjoyed the adulation.

“It’s nice. Unfortunately we don’t have that many (top-level players),” he said. “But we put in a lot of work, so to be recognised for that is nice. I guess it motivates us to work harder. At the same time you have to put things in perspective, you can’t let it go to your head, you’re here to do a job. I love what I do, so work comes first, results come and then everything else comes later.”

Bhupathi and Paes won the French Open and Wimbledon in 1999, the year they reached thefinal of all four Grand Slam tournaments, and they won a second French Open title in 2001. Bhupathi has won a total of 10 Grand Slamtitles in men’s and mixed-doubles, while Paes has won eight.

Paes already owns one Olympic medal — a singles bronze from the 1996 Atlanta Games which remains the only medal India has won in tennis.