On the last night of the 2010 tennis calendar, as a packed house at London’s O2 Arena patiently waited for the Nadal-Federer duel to start, four players were playing their hearts out on the court, vying for the doubles title. And at the end of a keenly contested match the Canadian-Serbian pairing of Nestor and Zimonjic prevailed over the Indo-Belarussian team of Bhupathi and Mirnyi.
But more than the result, what made this match special for the players was that all four were playing with their respective partners for the last time. While Mirnyi and Nestor have decided to pair up for the 2011 season, Zimonjic joins forces with Frenchman Michael Llodra. And Mahesh Bhupathi, part of the once-successful but short-lived team nicknamed the “Indian Express“, joins his estranged partner Leander Paes to try and bring the derailed Indian Express back on track.

Ever since they split, almost a decade back, both have managed to find success as doubles players on the tour. While Leander has had successes with his Czech partners Martin Damm and Lukas Dlouhy, Mahesh has been more of a “Ladies’ Man” forging successful mixed doubles pairings with the likes of Martina Hingis, Mary Pierce, Daniela Hantuchova and more recently Sania Mirza. In fact, Mahesh is one of the rare few to have completed a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles! Leander too, has had success playing with the ladies, especially when pairing up with Lisa Raymond, Martina Navratilova and Cara Black. Yet, in spite of all their successes, what the Indian populace has always longed for is to see them on the same side of the net. To their credit, Lee and Hesh have always joined forces when it came to representing India, be it at the Davis Cup, the Olympics or any other multi-discipline sporting event. But their differences and ego clashes have constantly been at the forefront of media speculation.

So what brings them back together now? The only fathomable reason at this point seems to be the desire for an Olympic medal. The London Games are less than 2 years away, and though they have won numerous matches for India in the Davis Cup and won gold at the Asian Games, an Olympic medal has still eluded them. The closest they could get to a medal was in 2004 at Athens when they lost the bronze medal play-off to Ancic and Ljubicic of Croatia. Now, Leander, 37, and Bhupathi, 36, realize that 2012 will surely be the last time they get to have a go at the coveted medal. And unlike the previous years when they had reunited merely days before the big event, this time they are giving themselves ample time to prepare. A full season on the tour will definitely help them get ready to conquer “The Final Frontier“.

It won’t be easy though! The tour is as competitive now as it ever was. That 3 teams shared the four Slams in 2010 shows the level of competition there is! And while some of the top teams in the world consist of players from different nations, there are others consisting of compatriots. The Bryan twins (probably the most feared doubles team today) and Isner-Querrey from the US, Poland’s Matkowski-Frystenberg, Benneteau-Llodra from France, Melo-Soares from Brazil, Schwank-Chela from Argentina and Robredo-Granollers from Spain are teams that have done quite well on the tour in recent years. Their presence in the main draw of the Olympics, along with other not-so-regular yet very strong pairings like Federer-Wawrinka from Switzerland (the defending champions), the Murray brothers from Great Britain, Lindstedt-Aspelin from Sweden, Erlich-Ram from Israel, Dlouhy-Franticek from the Czech Republic, Serbia’s Djokovic-Zimonjic and Petzschner-Kohlmann from Germany means there would be no pushovers in the fray, and that the road to the medal rounds will be strewn with thorns!

Also, it would be far-fetched to believe that the duo would be able to recreate the same magic they had shown as twenty-somethings! Though both are still quite fit and haven’t been away from the game, age does take a toll on the body. What also worked for them ten years back was the chemistry the two shared. Leander and Mahesh were close friends off the court and that showed in their game. It showed in the famous chest bumps, and in the way they played the big points. The situation now, however, is totally different and it will be very interesting to see how the two stars, almost perennially at loggerheads since they split, put aside their differences and perform as a team.

Difficult, yes, but certainly doable. Remember the Woodies (Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge), the best doubles pairing of the 90s, were not even on talking terms for a large part of their careers. But that did not stop them from winning titles on the court! So Lee and Hesh can take a leaf out of the Woodies’ book and concentrate on their on-court duties. The better they handle their differences, higher are the chances of hearing our National Anthem being played at the medal ceremony in London! GO Leander and Mahesh!!!

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