‘Friendship was at its lowest on the podium’
MUMBAI: Three Grand Slam trophies, 23 ATP titles, the world No. 1 ranking, setting the Davis Cup record for most doubles victories (24)—the Leander PaesMahesh Bhupathi doubles pairing that began to blossom from the mid-1990s gave Indian tennis its finest moments. Their games and nature a study in contrasts, the two forged the most natural partnership to create real magic. But the near-perfect dream was awakened to reality with the two going separate ways just as they hit their peak.
Coming together for an upcoming web series on them titled Break Point, Paes and Bhupathi relive their journey of success and separation. Excerpts:
Would you call your success together in the late 1990s and early 2000s as the highest point of Indian sport, let alone Indian tennis, back then?
Bhupathi: Possibly. Tennis being the most global sport probably after football, to be able to excel at the highest level in that was special and definitely in the Indian context, a big highlight.
Paes: Maybe because until then no one had become the No. 1 in the world in team sport. When Mahesh and I reached the top, we were pioneering through Indian sport to prove that there could be champions out of India. There was no know-how, no knowledge, no theory in the book to tell us how to do it. That’s what made it unique.
What do you remember of the early days of your partnership. Was there something that clicked instantly?
Paes: The partnership was very instinctive. I had a dream when I was 16, and he was 15, that we could win Wimbledon together. It was an intuition. As bold as I am, I went straight up to him and asked him, “Would you like to win Wimbledon together?” This was in our first meeting. He said, “You’re crazy”.
What was it about the 1999 season—where you reached all four Slam finals, won two (French Open and Wimbledon) of them and became the world No.1?
Bhupathi: It was the best season we had only because people remember the Grand Slams. I mean, if you look at 1997, we won six (ATP) titles, 1998 we won another six. In 1999, we only won three out of which two were Slams. But we won the right tournaments and made it to No. 1 in the world, which made it super special.
Then came the separation. In hindsight, was it something that couldn’t be fixed at all, or could things have gone differently?
Paes: Everything in life can be fixed if the people involved in it are willing to, and more importantly, have the knowledge to fix it. I don’t think at that point we had the knowledge to fix it. In hindsight, it would have been nice to have had an elder statesman who had a little more wisdom than we did when we were two young Indian boys out there conquering the world. We were so focused on doing that, and winning everything, that we forgot to look beyond that.
Bhupathi: At that point, the separation was necessary. Could we have fixed it then and there? I’m sure we could have. But we didn’t. And that’s the way the cookie crumbled.
Yet in the middle of that sometimes-on-sometimesoff split, you managed to win the French Open in 2001.There was clearly still some spark.
Paes: The cracks were there as well. Looking back, some of the nuances of those cracks were incredible. In some of the highest moments of our careers— winning Grand Slams, Davis Cup—we actually weren’t even speaking. The friendship was at its lowest at times when we were standing on the podiums and receiving trophies. And it doesn’t matter whether Mahesh is right or wrong or whether Leander is right or wrong.
Looking back, if you had carried on the way you did in the late 90s on court, was sky the limit?
Bhupathi: I would say so. But my question is: would it have made anyone else happier? And who? I mean, people say Indian fans were upset and disappointed. I say, why where they disappointed? Because before we came along, there was no one winning Grand Slams at all!
Paes: It’s funny. We won three Slams together, set records together. But if we had won 10 Slams together, people would have said you can win 20. That’s human instinct. What I’d like to celebrate is what we did achieve.