Mahesh Bhupathi says this is his worst time, he is crushed – Tennis News
One of the biggest tennis stars in India’s tennis history, Mahesh Bhupathi, has shared that he has been crushed by All India Tennis Association’s (AITA) decision and this is the worst time of his life.
On Friday, AITA announced that it will send Leander Paes as Bhupathi’s partner for participating in the doubles event of the London Olympics. The 12-time Grand Slam champion wanted to play with Rohan Bopanna at the mega event.
Bhupathi said, "My worst day on a tennis court was when we (Bhupathi-Paes) lost the bronze medal in Athens (2004) in a play-off. It took me a long, long time to recover from that loss. But today I feel worse."
Paes and Bhupathi were once the top doubles team in the world. They were ranked first in the doubles category in 1999, reaching the titles matches at all the four Grand Slams and the year ending championships. They became the first
doubles team from Indian to win a Major, capturing the French Open and Wimbledon Championships crown in that year.
However, they split after winning Gold Medal at the 2006 Asian Games due to some differences. The exact reason for their rift is still unknown but both players announced that they would never play again.
However, they came together for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and then the 2011 Australian Open, failing to win the title on both occasions. They remained together till the end of last season but then parted ways once again.
Paes joined forces with Radek Stepanek and Bhupathi chose Bopanna in order to prepare themselves for the Olympics.
Bhupathi added, "We (he and Paes) had come together in 2011 to realize our dream of playing the Olympics together. After he formed another partnership in November without even talking to me about it, I decided I wasn't ever going
to play with this guy again. I couldn't even look at him, never mind play tennis with him."
The Indian star went on to say that he and Paes could not sort out their differences at the height of their career, at the time when they were young so he does not see that happening now.
The Indian legend also said that if he would participate at the London Olympics, the sole motive behind that will be to win a medal for his country. According to him, he cannot do that with Paes but he has a chance with Bopanna.
Bhupathi thinks that it is better to try a new combination instead of one which has already been tried four times without any success at the Olympics.
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