It’s been a hectic few months for 12-time Grand Slam winner and doubles ace, Mahesh Bhupathi. Back from the Australian Open, basking in the glory of the grande success of IPTL, he is thrilled at giving the traditional game a jazzy impetus. The biggest coup was the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Indian tennis buffs to see the Roger and Novak show in New Delhi. The innovative league, inspired by the IPL featured the biggest names in the game — Andre Agassi, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic.
But ‘Hesh’ is not one to rest on his laurels, in fact, he has no time to rest. He is already busy planning to make the next IPTL bigger and better. In a telephonic interview, Bhupathi speaks about how he plans to take the game forward and you can almost hear the smile in his voice. “I’m very happy with the response the IPTL has got. The players too were happy, in fact Novak, who played in New Delhi said he would be happy to come back again while Boris (Becker) said he enjoyed watching the matches. Roger Federer was also happy that he was able to participate. Responses like this are encouraging and will give us the impetus to work harder next year. We have achieved something out-of-the box here and the fact that we were up to the challenge feels good.”
The world champs that dotted the IPTL were excited by the innovative format and team concept, and “it also helped that I knew them. Getting Roger to play in India was a personal achievement and fantastic for both the fans and myself. I believe India has a lot of tennis talent and it is important to tap into it at the right time and in the right manner. One way forward is to expose tennis talent to the game’s best players to inspire our young to be future champions,” says Mahesh, adding, “It is a very rewarding feeling to see the format being accepted so wholeheartedly.”
So, is the next obvious step to make the ITPL bigger and better by expanding the league? Mahesh answers, “Yes, of course that’s the plan. We would first like to take it to other cities in Asia and then to other continents. Many countries have shown interest. We would like to have eight teams by 2020 and we have big plans for the league.”
For the moment the tennis champ is taking baby steps and looking at adding one team and one city for the next year and the announcement of this will be made soon (within this month). “Changes will also be made in the rules,” he says, in an attempt to make the league as flawless as possible. “Ultimately, the idea is to make it a perfect league. We are open to any changes that will make the event better,” he adds.
After the frenzy of the tennis, Mahesh took a well-deserved two-week holiday with his wife Lara and daughter Saira. He admits that whatever time he has off from tennis and work is spent with family, “Tennis has been, and is so demanding that I really don’t have any major hobby. I find the best way to rejuvenate is to be with the family.”
He admits finding time to be together with his star wife Lara is not always easy, he says, “Both of us got into the marriage with our eyes open, so there are no surprises. We knew our careers were demanding and we would have to spend time apart. We were aware that we are not the conventional couple so we would have to be extremely understanding. The trick is to work out a balance and when you want to do it, you will.”
About his beautiful baby daughter Saira, who just turned three on January 20, the doting father says, that he is a hands-on father whenever he is around, but admits that it is mummy Lara who spends more time with Saira. “When I am with them, I try to make up for lost time by doing whatever I can. When Saira was a baby, I would change diapers too, whenever I was around!”
His wife might be a film star, but Mahesh sheepishly admits that he doesn’t watch too many films, and can’t recall watching a film he particularly liked in a long while. He adds that most of his film watching is done in-flight as he has been spending plenty of time on airplanes in the recent past.
Not one to party either, Mahesh says, “I rarely have the time for that. I prefer spending time with a very close circle of friends who have been with me for the past 20 years. We discuss my tennis plans, any new enterprises. I value their advise and opinion and they steer me in the right direction.”
He is an inspiration for millions of youngsters but he has his special inspirations too, especially growing up, it was definitely Boris Becker and now it’s Roger Federer.” Both of whom are his good friends now. With tennis so ingrained into his DNA, if not a tennis player, what would he have pursued? Pat comes the answer, “There never was any other option!” We agree.
