Tags:
Journalism of Courage
India’s top doubles player and world No.4 Mahesh Bhupathi, partnering little-known Russian Dmitry Tursunov, goes unseeded into the Tata Open, beginning here tomorrow.
Bhupathi, who was hoping to pair up with old-time partner Leander Paes, was forced to look for a new partner, after the latter decided not to play in the event, instead choosing to prepare for the defence of his Australian Open mixed doubles title with Martina Navratilova.
‘‘I just spoke to Leander for ten minutes,’’ Bhupathi said soon after the singles and the doubles draw was released, in the presence of former India ace Vijay Amritraj, second seed and defending champion Thai Paradorn Srichaphan and fifth seeded Spaniard Felix Mantilla.
On the Indo-Russian pair’s first round match against top seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram of Israel, Bhupathi said, ‘‘I don’t think it is the best doubles draw in the tournament, over the years. But we will take it match by match,’’ and added he would have to practice with Tursunov, with whom he has never played before.
Bhupathi, who had finished second with Max Mirnyi in the 2003 ATP doubles champions race, said he was hoping to start the new season with a win on his home turf here.
Meanwhile, the singles draw proved to be lucky for the seeds, with the top seed Carlos Moya and third seed Sjeng Schalken drawn to play qualifiers and second seed Srichaphan drawn to meet lowly-ranked Spaniard Albert Montanes.
From the Indian point of view, the rather weak singles challenge will see Prakash Amritraj pitted against Harsh Mankad for a place in the second round, while wild card Karan Rastogi, the Asian junior champion, is slated to take on a qualifier.
The final list of four qualifiers will be known only by tomorrow afternoon, when the final round is scheduled to be held. The other Indian challenge in the doubles will be in the form of wild cards Harsh Mankad and Mustafa Ghouse, along with the Amritraj cousins Prakash and Stephen.
Mankad and Ghouse are pitted against fourth seeded Petr Luxa and David Skoch of Czech Republic while Prakash and Stephen will take on unseeded Galo Blanco and Albert Montanes of Spain in the first round.
