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SK John
NEW DELHI, JUNE 6: In April this year, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, known as the "Indian Express" on the Tour, were on the verge of going their own ways, torn asunder by petty jealousies and incessant politicking - all of which were contributions by those who invited themselves onto the gravy train.
Two months on, with the first of their Grand Slam titles - French Open doubles beating the `madmen' Goran Ivanisevic and Jeff Tarango 6-2, 7-5 - has signified that they have settled into a crack professional relationship, leaving aside the `close friends' tag behind, at least for a while. Indeed, it is a triumph of their mental strength than maybe the tennis they played during the fortnight at Roland Garros.
No pair really tested them except in the quarter-finals when they lifted themselves so well to beat Ellis Ferreira (South Africa) and Rick Leach (US). On Sunday, it took them just 10 minutes to record one of the biggest wins in Indian sport history after the final was suspended on Saturday with thescore reading 6-2, 5-5 in the Indians' favour. It is not very often that Indians win truly world class titles because as a country we are obsessed with a six-and-a-half nations' world championships. Paes put it rather aptly when he said that they would be lucky to find a passing mention in the newspapers.
That apart, the add-ons that come with the title have made them the world's best pair by a long margin. The $ 268,000 (Rs 110 lakh) to be shared between them - one of the biggest pay cheques for any Indian sportsman apart - they will become No 1 and No 2 in individual doubles rankings and No 1 as team for some time to come. Paes-Bhupathi gained 876 points here and along with their Australian Open final showing they amassed 1428 points from two Grand Slams alone.
Bhupathi and Paes lost in the semi-finals here 12 months ago. Bhupathi, thus, picked up his second win at Roland Garros having won the mixed doubles title in 1997 with Rika Hiraki of Japan.
In their straight set demolition of the unseeded pair,the "Indian Express", found an able ally in Tarango, ATP Tour's quintessential madman. Remember, his wife even slapped an umpire, Bruno Rebueh, at the 1995 Wimbledon after Tarango walked out of a match citing bias by the umpire. He was banned for a year and fined $ 100,000. He was broken four times in the match, the last coming in the 11th game of the second set. Paes served out the match after some anxious moments.
The Indians were up 30-15 but went down 30-30; had the first match point but came back to deuce and took the match in the second match point when Ivanisevic sent a return high and long. Ivanisevic-Tarango thus lost a 10-match winning streak.
Paes thus avenged his doubles loss to Ivanisevic and Goran Prpic in the Barcelona Olympics quarter-finals which stopped him from getting his first Olympic medal, four years before he eventually did. Paes, in 1992, was teaming up with Ramesh Krishnan.
Earlier, the Indians were down 0-3 in the second set after Bhupathi dropped his serve and Tarango held onto his serve for the first time. Paes' serve came under pressure but hung on for 3-1 from where the Indian pair really took off.
Paes-Bhupathi now move to London where they play the $ 725,000 Stella Artois tournament at Queen's, the traditional warm up to The Championships at Wimbledon. After winning the biggest title on clay, the greatest title of them all beckons - the one at the All England Club. Let's go, boys.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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