Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi formed India’s greatest men’s doubles pairing at their peak and made their mark on the international tennis circuit when they reached the finals of all the four majors in 1999.
The Indian Express, as they were fondly known, later had a fall out and went their separate ways but continued to register many memorable wins in the Davis Cup and on national duty.
Pause, rewind, play: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi’s 1999 season was historic for Indian tennis
The duo came together to speak about their only Wimbledon title together, the memories of SW19 and what made them such a formidable pair.
Here are excerpts from the conversation:
On what the Wimbledon title meant to them...
Bhupathi: From my tennis career perspective that was the best feeling I ever had. My dad took me to the Wimbledon when I was 13 and I remember watching Peter Doohan beat Boris Becker. He took me again at 15. So for me it was dream for me to play at Wimbledon and then to go and win the Wimbledon with Leander was the ultimate high to achieve. You see that footage, there was so much emotions and shock that we were not even able to have a full smile on our face.
Paes: I played at Wimbledon for the first time in 1989. In 1990, when I won the junior boy’s singles title, Mahesh and me shared a room at Wimbledon. We also shared our lunches together in the players lounge and we would be at Wimbledon as two young Indian kids. My dream has always been that two young Indian boys would win Wimbledon. And the day I met Mahesh, I actually came up to him and I asked him would you like to win Wimbledon together; would you like to play doubles and be No 1 together in the world.
He kind of laughed at me and thought I was mad I guess. But when we actually went out there and he hit that amazing serve wide on the deuce court, the ball could not get back fast enough for me to send it out in the stadium. But the emotions of winning the Wimbledon with one of your best friends is phenomenal.
We have had so many amazing memories in the locker room, on those practice courts. When we played the match in the final, I remember we were exhausted. Getting to the final, we played two five set matches and after we lost the first set to [Paul] Haarhuis and Jared Palmer things were not looking good. But then the skies opened up and we got a break.
On what transpired in the final...
Bhupathi: I think, we were destined to win I guess. Things were going wrong in the final. We were exhausted because that was the year it rained at lot at Wimbledon. I still remember we played the final on Court 1 instead of centre court. But because of the rain we were pretty packed up. We were both playing semi injured, we were both playing very fatigued. We played five sets on Friday, we played five sets on Saturday. Leander was doing double duty with mixed doubles. So that first set was key set for us to win. Being 5-0 up in the tie breaker and finding a way to lose it, I think both of us were really deflated and then god said you guys need another chance so rain came and we went back in and had some kind of interaction with our coaches and we were able to come back out refreshed and treated it as a new five-set match.
Paes: Coaches gave us a hammering. As you come out of the court, there are two locker rooms on either side of the door and the teams went into separate locker rooms. And it’s funny that when we entered the locker room we just threw our bags and slumped into our chairs because we were so exhausted. There was a silence for a little while and both us just started laughing. Our coaches basically came and gave us a bollocking as we were not following the strategy. But when we then got out, we decided to enjoy ourselves, have a laugh and we won three sets in a row.
No one ever thought we will win Wimbledon. No one believed we would be world No 1. But reaching four Grand Slam finals and winning two was special.
Which mixed title was most special...
Bhupathi: In 2005 I played with Mary Pierce. She never played mixed and I think it was the first and only time she played mixed. I think she felt sorry for me because 10 minutes before the sign in, I didn’t have a partner so she said ‘ok fine I will sign in with you’. I didn’t even know her. And she signed in with me. She was playing great singles as she had just reached the final of the French Open. I think we beat everyone squarely as she was seeing the ball like a football. So that was the fun one for me.
Paes: 1999 (with Lisa Raymond) was a big year because I had to play a bunch of sets over four days. I played three matches on Thursday, three on Friday and three on Saturday. And getting to win two Wimbledon titles in the same championships takes a mammoth physical and mental effort. I remember it took me a couple of months to recover from that. But it’s just really, really special. And 2015 was the last Wimbledon title I won with Martina Hingis. That was magical final where we couldn’t do anything wrong.
What made them such a successful doubles team...
Bhupathi: I think out ability to problem-solve on the court. We were both exceptional doubles players in our individual capacity. But we were able to assess the weaknesses of our oppositions and we were able to problem-solve when things were not going well.
One of the stats that nobody talks about about our careers is the number of matches when we came back and won from being down, match-points specifically. Even when the last Chennai Open we won in 2011, we were down three match points in the first round against a guy who was serving 140. That was one of the things we did really well. We more than often figured out a way to win.
Paes: The magic of the Indian Express was that we always had each other’s back. No matter what happened, we covered each other on the court. I think that was the great thing about our partnership; that Mahesh’s strengths were my weaknesses and vice versa. But the camaraderie we had, the understanding we had on the court [was special]. Even when we didn’t play together but when we got back to playing Davis Cup or I am sure even today if we got back on the court to play that kinetic understanding about who covers which shot or who is taking which ball is just incredible understanding.
When we were down both of us could elevate ourselves. That’s where the famous chest bump came out to build adrenaline and show the opponents that we are ready for a fight.
Teaming up for first time...
Bhupathi: There was no concrete decision to pair up. Leander wanted to play with me for the first time in Jakarta in 1994. I remember I was there trying to play qualifying in singles and Leander came in, he saw me at the lobby and he came straight up to me and asked me to play. His first words to me was ‘I was supposed to play with Shuzo Matsuoka but he has just pulled out and so I am looking for a partner and I think I want to play with you because I think we can win’. For someone like me who was pretty low-ranked in singles, it was obviously pretty exciting. I also felt that he was pretty arrogant because he kind of told me that I am only playing with you because I think we can win. But obviously, he knew what he was talking about.
You can watch the whole interview here:
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