‘Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna were under-prepared’

Ace doubles player Leander Paes and big-serving partner Rohan Bopanna did not practice or play enough together to give themselves a decent chance to win a medal in the men’s doubles event at the Rio Olympic Games, said the former’s ex-partner Mahesh Bhupa-thi on Monday.

“The doubles team was definitely under-prepared, in fact there was no preparation — that’s the right word. They did not practice, did not play any matches together. Even when Leander and me were not playing on tour in 2004 and 2008 (Olympic Games in Athens and Beijing), we always came together, played a couple of tournaments together. That’s what the Olympics demands,” said Bhupathi here.

Paes — who played in his seventh Olympics — and Bopanna crashed out, losing their first round match in straight sets to Poland’s Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski. “We (Bhupathi and Paes) won three hundred matches on (ATP) tour, we made an effort to do it. This time they went in cold. One match against a dilapidated Korean Davis Cup team is not the way to prepare for the Olympics,” said Bhupathi.