When Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi became the first Indian pair to win a Grand Slam at the 1999 French Open, it was a historic achieveme...
When Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi became the first Indian pair to win a Grand Slam at the 1999 French Open, it was a historic achievement celebrated across the country.
The final decade of the last millennium had not seen much success for India as a sporting nation and in tennis, the dearth of success after the Krishnans and the Amritrajs was clearly evident.
Paes and Bhupathi had already established themselves as top players in the 1990s – Paes with an Olympic medal in 1996 and Bhupathi with the first Grand Slam won by an Indian at the 1997 French Open.
But an all-Indian pair winning a Major together, and starting a season in such a dominant fashion was unprecedented. They became the first pair to reach the finals of all Grand Slams in a year in the Open era, winning French Open and Wimbledon as top seeds. Yet, as incredible as the feat was, in a way it felt almost inevitable because of how consistent the “Indian Express”, as they were dubbed, had been the last couple of years.
It was a gradual progression. They won six ATP tour titles in 1997, reached three Grand Slam semi-finals in 1998 and won two Grand Slam titles...
