Almost a fortnight after he dropped the bombshell, announcing he would not like to pair up with Leander Paes at the Olympics, Mahesh Bhupathi has decided to give it one final shot.

The decision came after a meeting with All India Tennis Association (AITA) secretary Anil Khanna and Paes in Paris late on Monday night. “The meeting went well, and since we both wanted to find a solution to do the best for the country, we have decided to play together at Beijing,” Bhupathi told The Indian Express. Both Paes and Bhupathi are in Paris for the French Open.

Bhupathi had earlier said that he was “not willing to go into the Olympics under-prepared,” and that the lack of any communication or inclination on the part of Paes was responsible for his decision. “It’s just too late to play with Leander. He has made his plans clear for the lead-up to the Olympics, that he will play with Lukas Dlouhy so he can get enough points to make it to the Shanghai Masters. That means he doesn’t want to prepare with me for the Olympics,” Bhupathi had said.

Warm-up events

However, after Monday’s meeting, Mahesh said the duo will play together in a couple of tournaments — one on grass before Wimbledon and one after — besides training together for a week, before they leave for the Olympics.

“We will be playing together at the Ordina Open in the Netherlands (grass court event) and the Indianapolis championships in the United States, which is a hard-court event. After that, we will be training together for a week in Los Angeles before going to Beijing,” Bhupathi said. The duo would be training under the supervision of Paes’s coach Rick Leach and Bhupathi’s trainer Scott Davidoff.

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