Paes’ Olympic Teammate—Nathan’s Notice

Written by: Staff on 31st January 2012

Paes’ Olympic Teammate—Nathan’s Notice |

By: Nathan M. Cuny

Three men are in the position to become India’s next doubles teammates for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Not surprisingly the man currently in the lead has competed in five Olympic Games winning one bronze medal in 1996—this man is Leander Paes, the former world doubles No.1 of 1999. Paes has kept himself in the top eight for nearly thirteen years since his time as No. 1. He currently holds the No. 7 doubles ranking. Paes, shook tennis media when he and his partner, Radek Stepanek, beat the No.1 Bryan twins at the Australian Open.

Paes was runner up at the Australian Open three times, but this year was different. Rather than lose at the hands of Bob and Mike Bryan as has happened many times during the Australian Open final, he finally brought the twins to their knees. Paes and Stepanek defeated the Bryan’s 7-6(1), 6-2 in Saturday’s final. Leander Paes completed his long awaited Career Grand Slam after finally filling the last slot with the Australian Open.

Winning the first major of the season along with his win at the Aircel Chennai Open has led to talk about Paes being the first choice for the Indian Olympic doubles team. Paes answered such gossip by stating, “I’m not concerned about the Olympics right now. I know I will be ready for it when the time comes. I love playing for my country. If you look at my record and the history books, I have always performed great when I played for my country. It’ll be my sixth Olympics, which means I’m an old man. It is kind of Radek and Martina (Navratilova) to call me a legend, but they’re really just saying I’m old. The fun of playing tennis is actually to keep improving and to keep learning.” Even with such a humble opinion of himself it cannot be doubted that Paes will likely be half of the two man Indian doubles team at the London Olympics. Now who will play as the other half?

First off, both Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna teamed up to increase their chances of playing in the Olympics—most likely together. However this scheme appears flawed. Prior to the Australian Open Mahesh Bhupathi was ranked far above Rohan Bopanna. Currently Rohan Bopanna is ranked No.11 with 4,560 points and Mahesh Bhupathi fell to No. 16 following the Australian Open, having a total of 4,090 points. Both Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes split because on the agreement that they needed younger legs on their teams. With Paes so far ahead in the doubles rankings and Bhupathi so far behind it’s a wonder why Paes did not partner with Bopanna from the start.

Both Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna felt it would take them up to six weeks to synchronize their game. Bhupathi has also made some big changes to his game by playing where he normally doesn’t—the deuce court. Added on top of that is the nearly 1 month long break Bhupathi is taking until late February due to family reasons. While Bhupathi is Mumbai being a family man Bopanna will add points and matches to his ranking. I think we all know who we’ll see on the Olympic courts this summer.

Topics: Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Olympics, Rohan Bopanna