Leander Paes can play for another year: Mahesh Bhupathi

Indian tennis great Mahesh Bhupathi on 15th February said his former Grand Slam winning partner Leander Paes was still playing well and can continue for another year. Terming it as "The Last Roar", Olympics bronze medalist Paes is in his last year of professional tennis career. The 46-year-old finished runner-up in his final ATP Tour match on home soil at the Bengaluru Open.

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"He's playing well still. He made the final of Bengaluru. If he continues to play well for a few more months, may be he will play for another year. I think the way he's playing he should play as long as he can," Bhupathi told PTI about Paes, with whom he has won three of his four Grand Slam doubles titles.

Asked whether Paes could make it to the Tokyo Olympics squad to extend his record to an eighth appearance, Bhupathi said: "There are four five candidates in contention. We will have to wait and see till the cut off date (end of June)." Bhupathi was here for the centenary celebration of Calcutta South Club which hosted a galaxy of Indian tennis stars, including the father-son duo of Ramanathan Krishnan-Ramesh Krishnan alongside Naresh Kumar, Anand Amritraj and the club's president Jaidip Mukerjea among others.

Bhupathi, who made his debut here in 1995 under Mukerjea, also went down the memory lane. "I've got lot's memories here. It has got an incredible rich tradition of tennis. I think it's the best tennis club in the country. So it's nice to come back here." The former Davis Cup captain, Bhupathi, however lamented that the future was bleak for Indian tennis with little support from the corporate world. "Unfortunately, we don't have the economics. I don't think it makes sense for corporates, who are looking for gratification and Olympic glory. In other disciplines like shooting, boxing there are multiple medals which is not there in tennis. That's the reason tennis is not getting the backing,"

Bhupathi, who won eight mixed and four men's doubles majors also added that Indian tennis is suffering because there isn't much support from big Indian corporate houses.