Heavy workload beckons Paes

NEW DELHI, NOV 23: Mahesh Bhupathi is done with tennis for this century. Soon after his and partner Leander Paes' bid for the World Champ...

NEW DELHI, NOV 23: Mahesh Bhupathi is done with tennis for this century. Soon after his and partner Leander Paes8217; bid for the World Championships ended in a three-set mismatch at Hartford, the second best Indian announced that his right shoulder had packed-up and he would be giving Asia Cup and other tournaments a miss.

The Asia Cup withdrawal was on the cards anyway as his shoulder had been giving him trouble at Stockholm where he won a round in doubles. Bhupathi8217;s latest injury comes at a time when they are all set to launch salvage operations in singles in the next millennium.

So, it would be upto Paes to slip quickly into the familiar role of keeping the nation8217;s honour intact, in the MTNL Asia Cup. He has done that far too many times before. Unfortunately, this time he will embark on that mission with the knowledge that he has slipped to his lowest-ever singles ranking in five years. Singles ranking has never been a comfortable ally for the superstar, because in such situations the last thing hewould seek solace is in rankings.

No doubt, Paes will be a tired man considering that he has channeled all his energies into becoming part of the best doubles pair in the world. Unlike previous occasions in the Asia Cup, where India strolled towards the title, the ground reality is quite different this time around.

To start with, India are no longer the top seeds, with Uzbekistan taking that slot. Japan and Korea have sent teams for the first time and they can turn out to be sticky customers.

The draw taken today did not serve India8217;s cause either. They have been drawn to meet China and then meet the winners of India A8217; and Japan. The Uzbeks have been seeded directly into the semi-finals, while Thailand and Korea meet in the quarter-finals.

8220;With the absence of Bhupathi, our chances have lessened considerably,8221; Indian skipper Jaidip Mukherjea said. 8220;I hope that the other members will rise to the occasion and help retain the title.8221;

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Prahlad Srinath, the number three player, will play the secondsingles. Actually, he has been the most active singles player in the last couple of months, picking up around 35 points in the Indian Satellites recently.As Mukherjea agreed, it will depend on how Paes plays his singles. He last played singles at the Hong Kong Challenger he lost in the first round after the US Open. More importantly, the question is: Is he mentally tuned to take on such enormous workload especially after the season has ended?

The seedings: 1. Uzbekistan; 2. India; 3. Japan; 4. Korea

Quarter-final line-up: Uzbekistan bye; Thailand vs Korea; Japan vs India A8217;; China v India.

Wednesday8217;s matches: 10.30 a.m. Thailand vs Korea; 2.30 p.m. Japan v India A8217;.