For a few years towards the end of the last millennium, Indian tennis fans were spared the customary recourse to irrationality at the time of the Majors. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, during the time they were together, dispelled the need for a muttered prayer whenever they played.
The duo had a magical year in 1999. For the first time, it seemed rational to expect an Indian to win a Grand Slam and, as the year wore on, to even demand it. Four Slam finals and two wins whet the appetite of the Indian fans. It was the manner in which the results were achieved by the Paes-Bhupathi combine, as much as the outcome, that temporarily overshadowed the predominance of the singles format among the public.
A lot has changed in the decade since. Paes is 37 now, and Bhupathi 36. For close to five years, between 2001 and 2006, a men's doubles Grand Slam eluded Paes, while for Bhupathi, the drought has lasted eight years (and counting). Reinvention through the mixed doubles format has ensured that the passage of years hasn't taken its toll. Bhupathi has 11 Slams to his name, and Paes 12.
A few things have, however, remained the same. More than 20 years after making his Davis Cup debut as a 16-year old, Paes taps his temporal bone, “The mind is ready.” He thumps his chest, “The heart is there.”
Pragmatic
Paes then talks of his commitment to a billion people. The spirit might be willing, but there is also the pragmatic understanding that the flesh is weak. “I train even harder. I have to work twice as hard as I used to, to get the same results,” he says.
Then there is something called professionalism. The association that brought such spectacular riches in its inception has been reprised whenever the call of national duty has come.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will partner each other in Bangkok in an attempt to be ‘match sharp' for the Commonwealth Games. “Our priority is to win as many medals as we can,” says Bhupathi.
The Asian Games, though, might come at a tricky time for the pair, as the year-end ATP World Tour Doubles event in London occupies the same slot in the tennis calendar. “We will deal with it when we get there,” says Paes.
Much in tennis goes by the reference ‘feel' and the mutual absence or lack of practice does not seem to disrupt their game, as is evident from their 22-match winning streak in Davis Cup, a statistical significance if ever there was one. The near-certainty of their success only contributes to the public debate of the ‘unclaimed Grand Slams' of the lost years.
But, closer at hand, other battles loom. On Saturday, the two will face off against the Brazilian pair of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares here. Whatever the result, it is unlikely to blemish what the two have already accomplished.
