Paes, Bopanna and Mirza: India’s Olympic tennis saga takes another embarrassing turn

Like in the days leading up to the 2012 London Olympic Games, Leander Paes is, once again, the chief protagonist, mistrusted and rejected by the rest of the cast, which again, includes Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza, writes Ahmed Rizvi.

India's Mahesh Bhupathi, right, talks to partner Leander Paes during their double final tennis match against Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan of the US at the Queen's Club grass court championships in London. AP Photo/Sang TanShow less

This must be the Olympic season, for the great Indian tennis soap opera is back on air.

Like in the days leading up to the 2012 London Olympic Games, Leander Paes is, once again, the chief protagonist, mistrusted and rejected by the rest of the cast, which again, includes Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza.

The scriptwriters, meaning the bosses of Indian tennis, however, wanted a happy ending, so Paes has finally been paired with Bopanna, despite his reluctance, and will be flying to Rio for an impressive seventh Olympic appearance.

All’s well that end’s well? Really? But why should the fans have to suffer this hideous saga ahead of every Olympics?

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Yes, Bopanna, as the No 10 ranked doubles player in the world, had the right to choose his doubles partner for Rio. But so did Paes in 2012 when he was No 7, but Bopanna chose to ignore that right back then and decided to play alongside Mahesh Bhupathi in London.

Paes, who had wanted to play alongside Bopanna, was left to partner Vishnu Vardhan in the men’s double, and a reluctant Mirza was forced to play alongside Paes in the mixed doubles. It was a truly sordid triangle, or quadrangle, or whatever you might call it, and needless to add, all three pairings bombed at the Olympics, losing in the second round.

The Indian tennis fans, then, must have been hoping a few lessons had been learnt. But nay. If you know a little about Indian tennis, then you have probably heard about the bitter fallout between the once close friends and partners, and grand slam winners, Paes and Bhupathi.

Now, Bopanna is from the same state as Bhupathi, Karnataka, and Globosport, a sport management firm whose managing director is Mahesh Bhupathi, who signed Mirza when she was just 16.

This trio’s distrust of Paes is well known, but being a professional, Bopanna should have sorted this issue out with the All India Tennis Association behind closed doors. There is no reason why the name of his preferred partner, Saketh Myneni, should have become public knowledge.

That would have saved Bopanna all the angst he received on social media, for, whatever his alleged shortcomings as a person, Paes, winner of a career grand slam in both the doubles and mixed doubles, is still a hugely respected figure among the fans for all the battles he has fought and won for the country.

Anyway, all the people involved in this saga would have done well to remember the Olympic motto – “Citius, Altius, Fortius”. Translated, that means “Faster, Higher, Stronger” – not slower, lower and embarrassing.

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