Like the Friday the 13th horror movies, the ego clashes in Indian tennis never seem to end.
They sabotaged medal hopes in London in 2012, and the mood in the camp is likely to be so ugly in Rio de Janeiro that it is hard to see anything other than an early exit.
The prequel to the current spat took place more than a decade ago, and it is testament to the immaturity of those involved that it still endures.
The facts are fairly straightforward. Once upon time, between 1999 and 2001, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi reached five grand slam tournament finals in the men’s doubles, winning three of them.
Lauded as ‘Indian Express’ in the years before they fell out, they were pathbreakers for Indian tennis, giving the country a presence at the big-ticket events that even format stalwarts, such as Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan had been unable to provide.
Paes was a one-time junior champion at Wimbledon and the US Open. He never quite achieved success on the singles’ tour, but he was a man transformed on the doubles’ court and in Davis Cup matches.
As long ago as 1993, when he was 20 years old, Paes beat Henri Leconte as India upset France in the Davis Cup.
Even those Indian tennis aficionados who have never been to the French Riviera would be able to tell you about Frejus, which has such a special place in the country’s tennis lore.
There would be other famous Davis Cup victories, against the likes of Wayne Ferreira, Goran Ivanisevic and Jan Siemerink. But it was on the doubles’ court that Paes truly found his niche.
Starting in April 1997, when he won the Chennai Open with Bhupathi, Paes has won 55 titles. Eight of them have come at majors.
In the mixed doubles, he has won 10 majors, including an astonishing four in the last 18 months with Martina Hingis – the Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open and French Open.
Along with Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, doubles legends from a time when Paes was starting out, he is the only man to complete the career Slam in both men’s and mixed doubles.
Earlier in the week, Rohan Bopanna, 36, secured direct entry for the men’s doubles in Rio, being ranked in the top 10.
“I look forward to representing India at my second Olympics and consider it a privilege, responsibility and honour,” he said in a statement.
“A Direct Acceptance provides me the right to nominate my men’s doubles partner, an opportunity for me to exercise my judgement as to the best possible partner for me.
“I am looking forward to the support and good wishes of all concerned in the lead-up to the Olympics.”
That seemed innocuous enough. But the partner Bopanna had in mind was Saketh Myneni, ranked 125th in the world in the men’s doubles.
But on Saturday the All India Tennis Association (AITA) overruled Bopanna, and it ensured that Paes would be part of a seventh successive Olympics.
“Rohan Bopanna respects Paes. He has given us his reasons why he would prefer Saket Myneni,” a terse but hardly explanatory AITA statement said.
It brought back memories of four years ago when Paes was the one ranked in the top 10. But when the time came for team selection, both Bhupathi and Bopanna refused to partner him, leaving Paes to play alongside Vishnu Vardhan, ranked No 296 at the time.
The duo only got as far as the second round.
In the mixed doubles, Sania Mirza, who wanted to partner Bhupathi, was forced to play with Paes. They, too, did not go far. This time, Mirza will play with Bopanna, with Paes not ranked high enough (he is world No 46) for the duo to qualify otherwise.
When Bopanna’s preference for Myneni became known, he was subjected to frightful abuse on social media, with many contrasting his lack of grand-slam pedigree with Paes’s status as a national hero.
Mirza, too, had to field her share of awkward and rude questions.
That no one wants to play with Paes, legendary status or not, tells its own story.
Back in 2004, by which time the relationship was deteriorating, he and Bhupathi finished fourth at the Athens Olympics.
It will be a minor miracle if Paes, who turns 43 on June 17, and Bopanna can reprise that feat.
Popularity of five-day cricket will face stern test at India’s new venues
When India famously beat Australia at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2001, after following on 274 behind, the crowd on the final afternoon was in excess of 90,000.
When the Australians collapsed after tea, losing seven wickets, the raucous crowd functioned as a 12th man.
Some of the toughest cricketers to have walked on to a cricket field conceded afterwards that the atmosphere had intimidated them.
Four years later, when Anil Kumble had Younis Khan stumped off the first ball of the final day, the mood in the stands was similarly electric.
In the decade since, however, attendances at Test matches in India have dwindled. Even for momentous occasions, few have turned up.
When Sachin Tendulkar went past Brian Lara to become the highest run-scorer in Test cricket, the only ones watching in Mohali were journalists and a few hundred bussed-in schoolchildren. A few weeks later, as Sourav Ganguly played his final game, well over half the stadium in Nagpur was empty.
It has not helped that Tests have been allotted to centres such as Mohali, where fans show next to no inclination to watch the five-day game. Since 2008, it has hosted five Tests, while Chennai, which creates a terrific atmosphere whenever India play there, has seen just two.
Board politics, rather than spectator response, has been the criteria.
Now, there is belated recognition that the game’s oldest, and some would say anachronistic, format needs an infusion of life.
With India set to play 13 home Tests before April 2017, as many as six of them have been allotted to new venues.
Some, such as Indore, Pune and Rajkot, have a rich cricket tradition. Others, such as Ranchi, Visakhapatnam and Dharamshala, are recent additions to the cricket roadshow, having hosted quite a few IPL matches over the past few seasons.
How they respond to cricket in whites, and with a red ball, could well decide the format’s long-term viability in a nation where it once stopped traffic.
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