Happy Together

She’s 46, an age at which appearances in professional sport at the highestlevel are pooh-poohed upon. He’s going on 30, past his prime and slowly, butsurely, seeing his craft slip into a gentle decline. With her 57 Grand Slamtitles, she’s the second-most decorated woman in the history of tennis afterAustralian Margaret Court. He, at best, can be described as a comet that flashedbriefly across the tennis skies, a competent doubles player who’s had his dayout and has five Slams to show for it.

So, what binds together living legend Martina Navratilova and journeyman proLeander Adrian Paes together? How do they find themselves on the same side ofthe court, playing for each other, rooting for each other, pushing each other?What explains this fairy-tale story -- the Australian Open mixed doubles title,beating Todd Woodbridge and Eleni Daniilidou 6-4, 7-5 -- this unlikely pairinghave scripted in the twilight of their careers?

Coincidences and cosmic connections? Perhaps, bumping into each other at the2002 US Open, when Paes had virtually thrown in the towel to find a partner, andshe just happened to find him heading for the chief referee’s office. Leave itto Paes to tell it like a prolific storyteller: "There was this big ladyblocking my way. If I went left, she would go left. If I went right, she wouldgo right. She said to me, ‘you’re playing mixed doubles with me’."

Doubles pairings are mostly fascinating, regardless of whether they areplanned by design, or are purely the result of convenience or serendipity. Thereisn’t a single magic formula that works. It’s simply a question of finding agood fit, communicating and understanding each other’s games, ironing out theedges, and trying to make it work. Sounds simple? Well, at times, it’s assimple as that.

On court, at their peak of their prowess, Mahesh Bhupathi and Paes were theanti-thesis of the other, complementing each other beautifully. Each was whatthe other wasn’t, the two pieces that completed the jigsaw puzzle that wastheir partnership. Bhupathi was a picture of stability: heavy serve, steadybackhand return and groundstrokes, solid volleys; Paes was all panache andflamboyance, a darting panther at the net.

If Bhupathi and Paes were as different as chalk and cheese, Navratilova andPaes are a pair of Siamese twins. Forget age, for athletes like Navratilova (andWaugh and Jordan, and now Agassi) have shown that it can be eliminated from theplaying equation. As players go, about the only difference in their games is theresult of the hand in which they wield their respective racquets to effect themaximum damage on their opponents.

Both are out-and-out attacking players who believe in playing astraight-forward serve-and-volley game. Both consider themselves to bedisciplined and earnest students of the doubles game, who love to try and answerthe questions it throws up. Both have great respect for sport and greatcompetitive instincts. Both hate to lose.

Most importantly, like in the best of relationships, both Navratilova andPaes personify and bring a common work ethic to the courts: grounded incommitment to give everything and to have a whole lot of fun while trying topull it off. Says Navratilova: "Leander makes it fun to be on court,spiritually and of course tennis-wise. We both know how to play doubles, andthat's what really makes it fun. I'm there where I should be and he's therewhere he should be, playing the right shots. It's sort of tennis the way itshould be played."

Fun. It’s such an essential ingredient for enduring team success, be it atthe work place or in the sporting arena. It embodies a certain looseness andease, which allows people to be their honest selves and express themselvesunabashedly secure in the knowledge that, no matter what the outcome, the basisand dynamics of this relationship won’t change. Says Navratilova: "Theway I pick my partners, the most important thing is, are they nice people? Do Ireally enjoy being with them?"

Of course, Paes, a small fry swimming in a pond with big fishes, had more onhis mind. Like a great deal of awe. Paes, who has an acute sense of sportinghistory, said after the finals: "Martina earlier today said she won herfirst Grand Slam in 1973. I was born that year. I grew up, my whole childhood,watching Martina play, create history winning those many Wimbledon titles. Inever thought I'd be on the same side of the net as her."

The prospect of partnering a towering personality like Navratilova was verydifferent from teaming up with players who would conventionally be seen as hispeers, both in age and achievements. It was intimidating, not just while tryingto hit tennis balls from the same side of the court but also, as he would latersay in jest, following her in giving a speech at the presentation. But once oncourt, when the conversation revolved around tennis and where racquets did thetalking, age-old sporting instincts took over. The game flowed.

For the unseeded duo, the mixed doubles at the Australian Open was a perfectouting. Five good wins over some decent -- and younger – teams, withoutdropping a set. It wasn’t that they were a cut above the rest. Just that theyhad fun, played the better tennis during the fortnight, and in the finals, theybenefited from the jitters Daniilidou got on her serve. According to Navratilova,the gap between most of the teams isn’t that huge and that, of the 32 teams ina Grand Slam draw, at least half of them have a shot at the title.

Navratilova and Paes have committed to play together in the remaining threeGrand Slams too. This is Navratilova’s final year on tour. Well, at least inthis innings of her illustrious career, and who knows if there won’t beanother. The fact that she has won another Slam will increase the attention shegets in the remaining majors, especially the French and Wimbledon, wheretradition and nostalgia are always big draws with the crowds and the tournamentorganisers. And Navratilova is as big a draw as they come.

For Paes, Navratilova is probably the best thing that has happened to him atthis stage in his career. Indian tennis needs him, and Bhupathi, as much as itdid a decade ago, when he was a fresh-faced youngster ready to take on theworld. There simply isn’t anyone ready to take the baton from him.

Last year was one of worst for Paes on tour. Another parting of ways withBhupathi, no doubles silver to add in the cupboard, the disappointment of goingback to qualifying for Davis Cup again. Times have changed. Paes is lookingcomfortable with his new partner, David Rikl. The duo made it to thequarter-finals in Melbourne.

And, more importantly, playing alongside with a remarkable 46-year-old looksto have helped him gain some much-needed motivation and perspective of where hewants his tennis to go from here. Says Paes: "Her zest for life, herpassion for the game is mind-boggling. I'm going to be 30 this year, and I feltI was getting old. You know, Martina has kind of rejuvenated me, rejuvenated myspirit for the game. I'm very thankful for that." Quaint ways in whichpeople touch other lives.

And while on the subject of mixed doubles, let’s hope that Agassi managesto persuade a certain Steffi Graf to keep his part of the wager ofwinning at Melbourne, and partner him for the mixed at the French. That would besomething.