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Paes-Bhupathi for Bangkok
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are set to partner on the tennis tour again after a gap of over two years. The two will play the $551,000 (R 2.55 crore) Thailand Open at Bangkok to hone their challenge for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are set to partner on the tennis tour again after a gap of over two years.
The two will play the $551,000 (R 2.55 crore) Thailand Open at Bangkok to hone their challenge for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
"It will be ideal as the tournament falls just before the Games. We will go in match-sharp," said Paes. The duo is set to be top-seeded at the Games.
The two come together on the tour now only when they are set to play for the country.
The last time they played an ATP event together was at Indianapolis in July, 2008 to prepare for the Beijing Olympic Games.
The participation of both players, as well as Rohan Bopanna, in the Guangzhou Asian Games this November is doubtful given that the tennis event clashes with the World Doubles in London.
As of now, Paes and partner are ranked third in the world, Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi are sixth and Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi are placed at eighth. The top-eight teams qualify for the season-ending event. However, all three are set to lose out on crucial ranking points on account of participation in the CWG.
That will especially impact the chances of Bhupathi and Bopanna as there is very little points difference between the teams ranked fourth to eighth.
Bhupathi and Mirnyi, for instance, are just 180 points behind the fourth-ranked Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach.
Paes, however, appears to be safe given that his team is 1090 points ahead of the eighth ranked.
