No guesses for right choice

Don’t mind this topic reappearing in my blog within a week, but the fact is the Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi love-hate relationship will make news as long as they are alive.

What is new in it? Well, it was just last week, Mahesh, when asked specifically if he would pair up again with Leander, had said he would do it with the 2008 Olympics in mind. Five days later, Leander reacts in a very terse manner that he has options other than Mahesh for Beijing 2008.

It is the choice of any professional in any sport to choose where and with whom he wants to play. It may be recalled, last summer, too, when Mahesh was launching MBTA (Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy) in Gurgaon, he had talked on the same subject and he did not got a very encouraging response from a partner with whom he has created magic in the past.

The timing of Leander’s interview to a TV channel is very clear: The French Open is on and if he is going to be asked for his opinion, he will air it loud and clear.

My point is, what are the options which Leander is talking of? I, for one, know that the AITA ‘talked’ Rohan Bopanna back into the Davis Cup squad after he had missed the tie against Uzbekistan earlier this year. Choice No 2, Prakash Amritraj. Given Prakash’s suspect fitness and low ranking, would Leander pair up with him? No way.

If one wants to take names just for the heck of it, I can talk of even Harsh Mankad, a man who long back made it clear things between him and Leander were not fine. Unless, of course, Leander had also spoken of other choices being rookies like Vivek Shokeen.

Olympics is serious business and nobody knows it better than Leander himself. He has seen the highs and lows in it from 1992, when he first paired with Ramesh Krishnan in Barcelona. In Atlanta, Leander won singles bronze in 1996, though a lot many have forgotten he did play doubles there with Mahesh.

The period between 1996 and 2000 was the golden one. The duo won, fought, quarrelled, regrouped… The biggest mistake was when they joined back for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, their own doubles rankings had dropped. They went into the draw unseeded and ran into the famed Woodies in the second round. Everyhting ended there.

History repeated itself between 2000 and 2004, and when they went into the Athens Olympics, they came short in the bronze medal playoff. Still, it was a much better performance than Sydney. At this stage, Beijing is still a long time away.

And Leander is perhaps justified in saying he is now looking at doing well in the remaining Grand Slams of 2007. What happens in 2008 is hard to predict.

As I see it, Leander and Mahesh will strive to keep their individual doubles ranking as high up as possible. So is Mahesh going to be at Leander’s mercy next year. I really do not think so.

If there are going to any negative vibrations emanating, I know Mahesh will not even go to Beijing. He is far too mature to risk anything like playing in an Olympics just for the sake of being there on the world’s biggest stage.

Having said that, I know Leander, too, will not go to Beijing for fun. He wants another Olympic medal. And Leander knows with which partner he has the best chance.

Is your guess as good as mine?