One-time Davis Cup teammates of Paes, Bhupathi, Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna had all asked for Paes to be removed as Captain earlier that same year, which meant that it had been more than a significant effort to bring the pair together for the Olympics. That meant that Bopanna and Bhupathi were fielded as one team, and Paes and Vardhan as the other.
Neither pair was unable to progress beyond the second round, with Bhupathi and Bopanna losing to eventual quarter-finalists Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, while Paes and Vardhan went down in three sets to eventual silver medal winners Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra. In , caught in the midst of a messy separation from former partner Rhea Pillai, Paes, who had been fighting for custody of daughter Aiyana, had been accused by Pillai of domestic violence.
This one may not have necessarily been by choice, however. The two had played only the occasional match together on the professional circuit, but came together at the Davis Cup tie against South Korea, played in Chandigarh, winning their grass-court doubles rubber.
Also as a result of this development, Bopanna was given the freedom to choose his partner, selecting top singles player Saketh Myneni, whom he said suited his playing style better than Paes did. Mirza, however, would still play with Bopanna on the professional circuit.
While Paes and Bopanna were unable to progress beyond the first round, Bopanna and Mirza managed to fight until the bronze medal stage of the mixed doubles. Although several sources have suggested Paes is difficult to work with, he still remains unequivocally the best tennis player India has produced.
Click here to join our channel indianexpress and stay updated with the latest headlines. Australia beat Pakistan to reach the finals Explained: Who is Devasahayam, the first Indian layman to be conferred sainthood?
But, they never spoke clearly about what went wrong between them. Don't Miss These Stories. Click here for more. The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards. The second episode highlights their eye-raising performances against the Woodies at the Atalanta Olympics where Paes won a bronze medal in singles , against Netherlands in Davis Cup in Jaipur where Bhupathi won a decisive fifth rubber but in the grand scheme of things, it is also where the seeds of what became a rather public fallout were sown.
It brought about adulation for Bhupathi and, per Mahesh, a cold response from Paes. Leander would state at the end of the episode: "It was the human psychology, the chalupanti , the keeda " regarding the rumours that he wasn't pleased for Bhupathi.
This " keeda ", as Paes calls it, becomes a crucial point in their mistrust going forward despite the success on the court. And that triumph, long time coming, finally arrived in They were the highest-ranked team. It seemed like a pairing destined for greatness. On the court they were going through plenty of success but off it, they were hardly conversing.
The third and fourth episodes go into detail of the sacrifices both made for each other and to make things work. Paes let go of his singles sponsorship to get Bhupathi a better deal. Thanks to their perfect coordination with the racquet, the duo smashed off balls across the court, scripting new histories and winning multiple glories for India.
Their camaraderie on the tennis court was, however, a result of their coordination that was off it, which was often built and broken, the story of which was unbeknownst to many until Zee 5's 'Break Point'- a love, hate story of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati'. Leander Paes, in the exclusive interview, revealed that both Mahesh Bhupathi and him had been receiving offers to do a feature film for the last 20 years, and that they had been saying no to them because the duo doubted if a minute or a minute feature film would be able to cover their glorious career span.
0コメント