But for the man on the streets of Mumbai, their second successive Grand Slam title did not even compare with India beating lowly Kenya during the cricket World Cup. Crackers, which celebrated India's win on June 26, just refused to go off.

Express Newsline made random telephone calls, to elicit the response of Mumbaikars to the Paes-Bhupathi victory. The responses said it all. At least a dozen said they did not follow tennis at all. A few, like Mohammed Yunus Pervez from Jogeshwari, were not aware the Indian duo had won, though he agreed it was a matter ``of pride for Indians.''

The more knowledgeable among the respondents, few asthey were, blamed Doordarshan for not telecasting the match live.

Sunil Vijayan, 33, area sales manager for a company selling paints, said, ``It is sad that we could not watch the match on television. I was surfing all sports channels but could not catch the action.''

Vijayan also felt it was high time people realise that spending money and time on cricket was futile. ``We have a lot of talent in tennis,'' he said.

Chandrasekhar Pandit, a businessman from Bhandup, did not sound too enthusiastic, but confessed that winning at Wimbledon was always a great thing. ``I read about it in the papers though I feel they should have shown the match live.''

Pandit, however, made it clear that India's tennis success did not make his heart swell with pride. ``Cricket is a game everyone knows and understands. Tennis is not followed as much and not everyone plays it.''

Purushottam Bandiwadekar, 76, was at least interested. He said, ``I felt very proud at their achievement. Now we can boast that we have a trulyworld class pair amid us. I had gone to the hospital to see my new-born grand daughter when my son gave me the news that they have won the final. Then I took pains to watch the recording of the final twice -- last night and this morning.''

It was not just the viewers who felt robbed by Doordarshan's indifference. A Doordarshan employee covering sports news said the topic was hotly discussed during lunch hour at its Worli office. ``It is likely that Mandi House, which manages the deals, brought rights of only the singles matches from Stracon, the company that holds telecasting rights. It is surprising that after Paes-Bhupathi's French Open win, DD did not think it right to ask for the rights to doubles matches too.''