Tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi is India's most successful Grand Slam champion with 10 titles under his belt. He has just won the Australian Open mixed doubles title with Martina Hingis and that makes it six mixed doubles title with six partners. He is now looking forward to the Davis Cup Asia Ocenia Group I tie against South Korea next month and he spoke exclusively to CNN-IBN's Shwetal Kamalapurkar.
Shwetal Kamalapurkar: You won yet another title. What's the feeling?
Mahesh Bhupathi: I am obviously very excited. I had not won in Australia before. It has been a long 10 years wait but I put in the work this December and went to South Africa for training. So I am happy that the work has paid off.
Shwetal: How was it playing with Martina Hingis?
Bhupathi: Very exciting. I think everyone knows what a great champion she is and she is making a comeback. But it did not take her long as she was in the quarter-finals in the singles and we really played very well in the mixed doubles. So I give a lot of credit to her to come back so soon.
Shwetal: How did this deal come through as she has come back after a long time?
Bhupathi: Actually, I just heard that she is coming back and I knew her agent pretty well so I just sent an email and it worked out.
Shwetal: This Australian Open Paes and you played really well but the younger tennis players from India did not play well. What's your opinion?
Bhupathi: Basically you are talking about juniors. It's a tough life out there. We cannot expect them to just show up and win. I think Sanam won a couple of matches. It is a process as juniors really doesn't mean at the end of the day. How they take the steps in men's tennis is all that counts.
Shwetal: What's your opinion about Sania's performance? Are you disappointed?
Bhupathi: Not really. She had a tough draw and played world No. 1 junior in the first round. She got through that and Michaella Krajicek is playing very well. She had won a tournament a week before. So in a Grand Slam every match is tough and Sania has some work to do now because she has to defend her points at Bangalore and Hyderabad next week.
Shwetal: What is your plan for the Davis Cup?
Bhupathi: Well, I am heading for Korea next week. I will obviously have a tough match as we haven't beaten Korea in Korea in a long time or ever if I am not mistaken. So we have the work cut out for us.
Shwetal: What is your plan for the next few weeks?
Bhupathi: Well, Davis Cup is next week. So there is no time to rest as we have to get back to practice soon.
Shwetal: And the Bangalore Open?
Bhupathi: That's the week after Davis Cup. So we will take it one week at a time. The women's event is back in India. So everyone will be excited to see sania especially in Bagalore as they haven't seen her before.
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