Paes-Bhupathi still a force to reckon with

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, DEC. 10. The Indian duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, in their determined comeback bid, are a far cry away from the dizzy heights which they reached at the end of the 1999 season. Yet no can write them off as they take a plunge in the Gold Flake World doubles championship set to begin on December 13 as wildcards.

``The only way for us to look is up,'' said Bhupathi assessing the duo's fortune in the championship. ``We are going out there to play our best,'' he said.

``The results will take care of themselves if we do that,'' added Paes.

Both have apparently got over their injury problems. Mahesh said that his shoulder was a lot better and in fact he felt more fit and stronger than ever before, while Paes, who was recently plagued by knee problems, said that he was in good shape.

The duo felt that there was not much pressure on it as it takes on the top seven teams in the world without adequate match practice.

``I feel the conditions here are right for us. The crowd, the setting, the court; we just have to go and play our natural game and enjoy doing that,'' said Bhupathi. ``It will be great if we finish on top and start in the right frame of mind and spirit for the Gold Flake ATP Tour event at Chennai as well,'' he added.

``It is a diluted field but I feel the other guys have been playing together the whole season as a team and it will be a tough run. But I am not allowing that to put pressure on us. You know whenever I am under pressure I motivate myself and turn the table around,'' claimed Paes.

Leander clarified that he did not play in Costa Rica as intended. ``But I really can't understand the fuss over it. Even if I had played it would have helped me have good practice. What's needed are matches. It doesn't matter that you play singles or doubles. As far as I am concerned, I would like to play singles too as long as I have the potential.''

He, however, added agreed that from now on he needed to strike a good balance in his schedule. ``There is no way that I can go around playing for 30 or 35 weeks. The knee problem was the cumulative effect of such non-stop tennis that I had played for a decade. I would like to pick the right tournaments to play from now on.''

Regarding the hurdles at Bangalore Paes said, ``every round will be a hurdle. We are the No. 8 pair and that means we are going to play the No. 1 or No 2 seed right away and things are not going to get easier as we go ahead. We have, individually and collectively, played well together. What's needed here is that we get off the blocks well and keep going.''

As for the future Paes said that they would do everything within their means to get to where they once belonged. ``The key to our success in 1999 had been our camaraderie, we are doing our best now.''

In the meanwhile, the championship's exclusive website - www.worlddoubles.com - was launched here on Sunday according to the KSLTA secretary, Sunder Raju. The website will have detailed information on players besides minute-by- minute updates during the championship.

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Section  : Sport
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