India's doubles ace Mahesh Bhupathi dropped a bombshell when he told the All India Tennis Association that he does not want to partner Leander Paes at the upcoming Olympics, and instead would prefer teaming up with Rohan Bopanna.
The top Indian tennis duo came together for the Davis Cup tie against Japan last month and helped India qualify for the World Group play-offs. But, it seems, things have fallen through since and Bhupathi is apparently not happy with the lack of communication with his former world No 1 and three Grand Slam-winning partner.
In an e-mail to the AITA, Bhupathi wrote: 'There is absolutely no communication between Leander and myself since the Doha Asian Games and even though I have reached out various times through different avenues there is no movement on any front.
'While people who don't really understand tennis are willing to force us to play together to win a medal, you will agree that we are not magicians and a medal will not happen just because we step on court. 'The field is even stronger than 4 years ago and just going to the Olympics for the sake of it, and not making the most of it by putting all that is required to win does not interest me at this stage of my career.'
Bhupathi is currently ranked No 11 on the doubles charts while Paes has dropped to 24 following a disappointing start to the season in partnership with Paul Hanley of Australia.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment