From unsung heroes to unstrung heroes

When Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathy got together on a tennis court, they became the instant hit in the world of tennis and more so in the cricket crazed nation of India. They gave more joy to tennis followers than anybody else could with their fantastic partnership, with those high flying chest-bumps each time they won the point and with those numerous slams they won together. Those days, apart from Cricket, in India, any other sport story to hit the front page of national dailies was as difficult as trying to find a Cricket story on New York Times front page. But these guys not only managed to get plastered on every front page of the newspapers, they got discussed by TV pundits on Prime Time News too.

They were unsung heroes then. Today, they are unstrung heroes. Separated and facing off each other in the doubles section of the-singles-minded-tennis world.

One can always enjoy watching John Travolta and Nicolas Cage face each other off in that movie “Face Off” but it certainly hurts even an ordinary tennis fan like me to see these wonderful players face each other. Aren’t they both made to play doubles together and not against each other?

At the time of writing this piece, thankfully, the rain god in the New York sky is postponing their match at the US Open 2009 Men’s Doubles Finals and lets all hope for the sake of their fans who loved to see them play together, this match never commences and they both get declared as joint winners. Who would want only one of them to win and the other to lose? But then, I know this will remain a wish and also know that all their fans are left with no choice but to see the inevitable happen in just a few hours from now.

Very soon, the Arthur Ashe stadium will witness everything except that famous partnership of Leander and Mahesh.

Quite a masterpiece it will be and doubtless, it will be breathtaking hard court doubles match we have not seen for a long time. There sure will be a touch of magic, a speck of inevitability, a plethora of class and a glimmer of hope from both Leander and Mahesh that we all will enjoy. But can we enjoy the veneer of sadness and the joy of victory from the vanquished and the victor? Yours truly certainly cannot.

The reason behind their separation is well known but I certainly want them to re-unite again quickly in what could be their last days of their careers and bring back that joy, that smile on millions of their fans’ faces who are craving to see them play together.