Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi

Chennai, Nov 25: There are most chances of the nation’s two very successful players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, to play together in the forthcoming ATP Chennai Open. They are eager to get some warm up done, before the main tournament of Australian Open lying up in 2011. The schedule of Chennai Open is from Jan 3-9, and in this tournament the pair can have the best practice session, before the very crucial and important tournament of Australian Open, which is to be held right next week after the Chennai Open in Melbourne. “The successful pair would certainly like to play in Chennai Open, as they know that the Australian Open starts after the very next week,” said the IMG South Asia MD Ravi Krishnan to reporters.

Bhupathi had already made the statement earlier, that he would be pairing with Leander Paes in Australian Open, where the duo have not won the only Grand Slam title over there until now. “Leander and Mahesh have confirmed that, they will play in Chennai Open. We will give them a warm welcome and will be glad that they play in Chennai Open, with Australian Open to follow right next after that. We are not 100 percent sure of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan to be participating in it, but they have confirmed about themselves to play,” Ravikrishnan said.

Currently the pair of Paes and Bhupathi is playing with different partners in the London Masters tournament. Seeing the ongoing form and success of the duo, we can expect a lot of thriller action by them in Chennai Open. Back in 1996-97, the best nation pair provided a great excitement to the home crowd in Chennai Open, as they won the doubles title for three consecutive years. It was again repeated, the winning of doubles titles by duo in 2002.

Tags: Aircel Chennai Open 2011, Chennai Open, India, Indian Sports, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sports, Sports India, Tennis