Sports

'There Is No Rift'

Fresh from his Wimbledon triumph, Mahesh Bhupathi spent some time with friends and teenaged players at The Tennis Village, where B.R. Srikanth spoke to him.

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'There Is No Rift'
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You and Leander have had a heady summer. What helped you win two Grand Slams in a row?

You and Paes have picked different partners for the next tournaments. Is there a rift?
There were never any problems, just rumours spread unnecessarily. We have to be professional about our relationship because there are lots of people who are trying to put spokes when we are at this level. So, right now we are in the middle of a great relationship, and are giving 100 per cent for each other on court and are friends off court. And I never go to the US after playing in Wimbledon. But Leander does have to play doubles, and just because he is playing with someone else it doesn't mean he's quitting me. There's lot of money in this game, and that's why he is playing with someone else there. I played with Kafelnikov last year in Stuttgart, and I am playing with him again this year.

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Don't you want to notch up your singles ranking?
It depends on how much I can play now. This is the best time but till my injury heals I don't know if I can play any singles before the US Open. I hope to go to Stuttgart in 10 days' time, but only if I am fit.

Would you give the other Grand Slams a shot?
For sure. We are not going to let up because we won two Grand Slams. We are going to try our best and win the US Open, too. Before that, we are going to play a couple of warm-up tournaments in Montreal, Cincinnati and Indianapolis. We would want to give all the four Grand Slams a shot. We've got another six years left in our career, so have a pretty good chance.

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Lastly, will tennis get popular in India now?
Tennis in the country should now get its due after these two Grand Slams. I feel they will take a few steps in the right direction.

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