Sania Mirza and Leander Paes practice together for the first time at Olympics – Tennis News
Indian tennis stars, Leander Paes and Sania Mirza, played together for the first time on Wednesday since the partnership controversy that rocked the Indian tennis last month.
Paes and Mirza practiced for almost two hours at the All England Club. Luckily for the Indian tennis, their behaviour with each other looked positive and it seemed like they have left their problems behind them for the sake of
their country.
During the practice session, Mirza concentrated on her forehand and Paes worked on his backhand, showing that the Indian number one women tennis player would play at her strong side and Paes would have to adjust himself at his
weaker one. However, Paes stated that he would not have any problem on moving to the backhand side, as he has already did the same in past.
The Indian legend said while talking to the reporters after the practices session, "I want my partner to be comfortable. It doesn't matter which side I play. I have won Wimbledon with Lisa Raymond playing from the backhand side."
Although, it was way back in 1999 but Paes partnered American star, Lisa Raymond, to win the Wimbledon championships by beating Anna Kournikova and Jonas Bjorkman in the final.
On the other hand, Mirza was happy that she would be playing on the forehand side during the mixed doubles event of the Olympics.
She said, "It helps me a great deal to play from the forehand side because returning is my strength and I will be able to give Leander maximum support."
Going back to the controversy, it had started when both Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna refused to play with Paes, who is the number one Indian doubles player, as they wanted to participate as one team. All Indian Tennis Association
(AITA) bowed to their pressure in the end and partnered Paes with the Indian number five, Vishnu Vardhan.
In order to reduce Paes’ anger on this decision, AITA made his mixed doubles team with Mirza, who is Bhupathi’s regular partner. Mirza lashed on all parties involved after this announcement, thrashing AITA, Bhupathi and Paes with
some harsh words.
However, it seems like she has cooled down with time, as she praised Paes, "It is the Olympics and it is at Wimbledon and Leander has always given his best for the country. We hope to do it together this time. This opportunity
will never again come in our lifetime."
Paes, who has won a combined total of four men’s double and mixed double titles at Wimbledon, partnered Elena Vesnina of Russia to reach the final at the All England Club just three weeks back.
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