Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi: We let cracks seep in

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have given fans an equal share of joy and despair during and after their mercurial journey together on and off the tennis courts But to know that they too have silently cried over their follies is one of the revelations in Break Point a series that premieres on Zee 5 from October 1The series covers the journey of Indiarsquos most successful tennis pair from the late 1990s to the 2006 Doha Asian Games and of course their controversial split in between There have been numerous controversies thereafter too but thatrsquos probably for another Season they sayTheir contrasting personalitiesmdashPaes 48 being flamboyant and Bhupathi 47 being an introvertmdashis said to be one of the reasons for their success and failures And the fact that they still donrsquot share most points of view is evident from this detailed interaction with midday on ThursdayBhupathi left and Paes celebrate winning the Wimbledon doubles final in 1999 PicGetty ImagesEdited excerpts from the interviewOn how it all beganPaes I saw Mahesh for the first time in Sri Lanka during the Asian Championships in the early 1990s Seeing his backhand technique and tall frame I instantly felt hersquos the guy I could win Wimbledon with That was my dreamBhupathi The 1997 Chennai Open Gold Flake Open win was our first Tour event so it was special We broke through and believed we could win at the ATP stage It was a stepping stone for bigger and better things to come in the near futureOn their challenges abroad as a young Indian teamPaes In 1998 during one of our matches in Stuttgart Germany Boris Becker was unhappy that we were beating him in his own backyard So in the third set he began giving it to us verbally We had a huge oncourt fight and after we won the match we were immediately ushered into our cars and taken back to the hotel Thatrsquos how challenging it was for us thenBhupathi I donrsquot think it was all that bad In fact we were being embraced because we were not just two Indians or brown boys in a white sport we were playing a different brand of doubles We were chestbumping and highfiving There was a lot of energy and the crowds were loving us Indians were coming out of the woodwork in every city we played inOn their contrasting personalitiesPaes Mahesh is not the most elaborate communicator but we are both equally emotional and passionate So yes there have been tears along with the cheers Wersquove had our flaws but regardless of that the fact is that we are Indiarsquos first Grand Slamwinning team and World No 1 team with a record for most Davis Cup wins But in the last 18 months while working on this series wersquove got a sense of healing We tapped into conversations we havenrsquot done in the last 20 years I guess wersquove matured and both realise our flaws Itrsquos been an entwined brotherhood Today if he needs something Irsquom always there for him and vice versaBhupathi Off the court he is an extrovert and Irsquom an introvert But our oncourt energy passion hard work and sacrifice ensured we gelled well to become the No 1 team in the world Our differences complemented each other and thatrsquos why we should have also worked more towards celebrating our differences and not let those cracks seep inOn their failure to handle success on the world stagePaes Thatrsquos definitely one of the reasons we split We are not shy of our flaws We could have handled things better but the minute you let other people or factors come in then the cracks start showing To have to keep that magic between us going we should have had more of that alone time together because thatrsquos what made us successful in the first placeBhupathi One year we were No 70 in the world and next year yoursquore in the top 10 and then all of a sudden yoursquore No 1 In 1999 we had a dream year making it to all the Grand Slam finals and winning two We were walking on a cloud But while we dreamt about playing and winning at the highest level we didnrsquot have any advice to deal with what comes after We needed a better understanding on how to deal with the pressures and distractions and everything that revolves around success Today you have agents dieticians psychologists etc When we were playing we had a coach and a trainer who were as clueless as us and would ask ldquoAbhi kya karna hairdquo after a big winOn the Indian tennis systemPaes It should not only be about tennis In Tokyo we won a record number of medals with our female athletes doing exceptionally well Our para athletes also did well Someone like Kiren Rijiju former sports minister helped invest in infrastructure and this is the result of that We have to use sport as a vehicle to get to the masses Thatrsquos my next journey to take sporting education to Indiarsquos tier 2 and tier 3 cities Bhupathi Firstly the Indian system did not produce Leander or Mahesh or Sania Mirza Rohan Bopanna Somdev Devvarman Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan They all did it in their personal capacity We have no system I had waved the white flag some time ago but nobody allows you to do anything in this country People actually put spokes in the wheels So if they donrsquot need advice from people like us who have achieved at the highest level we are bound to struggle Itrsquoll take another 20 years for India to win a tennis medal at the OlympicsAlso Read Lack of runs the reason for Virat Kohli quitting as T20 captain