With increasing amounts of time on his hands as his doubles career winds down, India’s Mahesh Bhupathi is fast becoming a force to reckon with in the tennis business sphere.
While expecting to play through to the end of the current ATP season, the 38-year-old has his fingers in a number of different pies, including his recent announced commercial relationship with Andy Murray to try and build the Scotsman’s puny current brand off-court.
But Murray is not the only big project ‘Hesh’ has on his plate. Since starting some years ago to focus on the money side of the game the 12-time Grand Slam doubles titleholder has concentrated on running his management and marketing company Globosport, which he set up in India a decade ago.
The firm has represented Indian women’s icon Sania Mirza, still a big name in the home market but now basically doubles-only after having played her last WTA singles match almost a year ago and with a singles ranking approaching 700.
Bhupathi also has his name on nearly 40 tennis academies at home, with his company also running tournaments in Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata. As a sideline, he also dabbles in film and television production.
“There’s a lot of time in the day,” the busy man told London’s Independent. “Obviously, tennis takes maybe four or five hours a day, but the rest of the time is pretty idle, especially when you’re travelling on tour.”
©Daily Tennis News Wire
Topics: Andy Murray, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza, Tennis Business, Tennis News