Mahesh Bhupathi: I think it's time to start talking about singles
India now needs to switch focus to singles rather than feeling happy about the Doubles achievements in Grand Slams, according to Mahesh Bhupathi. India has had four Grand Slam Champions – all in doubles.
"Do you really want people to win doubles Grand Slams? We have won like 30 of them. I think it's time to start talking about singles. I don't think anybody will get excited if anybody wins anymore doubles Grand Slams," Bhupathi said.
"Between Leander, Sania, me and Rohan, we have got 30-35 Grand Slams. It's time for people to start winning in the singles Grand Slams main draw."
He then started comparing Indian tennis to other sports. "If the future holds good for any sport, you need 10-15 players. Like in badminton you have 10 players in top-100. So the future is good for that sport. Here we have one boy breaking into top 100 and one girl breaking into top 200. So the future is not good. Prajnesh is going to break into the top-100 in a few weeks. Ram is close to breaking into top-100. Only these two boys are in the right direction," he explained.
Bhupathi commented on his former doubles partner – Leander Paes, saying that he is still in the mix for a place in next year’s Olympics. "He's very hungry and you can see the motivation when he played in Pune (Tata Open Maharashtra) and in Australian Open. He's still got a lot of fire left in him. I think he will play the next Olympics for sure."
"He's got a great chance. But it depends on his ranking. Whoever is ranked highest will make it. There's no doubt about it. The cutoff for the Olympics is very high."
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from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2sVA79w
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