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New hope beckons Indian tennis
If the crashing of Paes-Bhupathi at Athens and four Grand Slams were the low point, the highlight was Sania Mirza breaking into top 200.
It was a none-too-happening year for Indian tennis in terms of big events like Olympics or the four Grand Slams but the individual performances of youngsters definitely promised of much better things to come.
If the crashing of 'Indian Express' - Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi - in the Athens Olympics and missing the doubles' bronze just by a whisker was the low point, the highlight was Sania Mirza breaking into top 200 in the first year of her turning pro.
Paes and Bhupathi, who came together after a gap of around two years for the Olympics promising a gold for the country, fought a marathon battle with the wildcard Croatian pair of Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic before going down 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 14-16.
The heartbreaking loss did overshadow their achievements during the year with separate partners in the doubles arena.
Paes, who made a remarkable comeback to competitive tennis after fighting a life-threatening brain lesion, crossed the 40-win mark for the fourth time in his career and captured four ATP titles with three different partners.
The wins at Halle and Gstaad with David Rikl, at Delray Beach with Radek Stepanek and AMS Toronto title with Bhupathi took his doubles titles tally to 31.
