In June 1997, on the clay of Roland Garros, a 22-year-old from Chennai did something no Indian had done before. Mahesh Bhupathi won the French Open mixed doubles with Rika Hiraki of Japan and became the first player from India to lift a Grand Slam title. It was the first of 12 majors. Over the next 15 years he would win in every corner of the Grand Slam calendar, reach world No. 1 in doubles and help build one of the most talked-about partnerships the sport has seen.
Name: Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi | Born: 7 June 1974, Chennai | Sport: Tennis | Event: Men’s doubles and mixed doubles
From Chennai to college tennis in Mississippi
Bhupathi grew up with a racket in his hand and showed early promise on Indian junior courts. Rather than turn professional straight from school, he took the American college route and enrolled at the University of Mississippi. It proved a sound choice. He was named newcomer of the year in college tennis in 1994, and in 1995 he won the national collegiate doubles title with Ali Hamadeh, the first national tennis title by a player from that university. He also took the conference singles crown that season, was voted its player of the year and earned All-American honours in both singles and doubles.
He turned professional in 1995. His singles career never took off in the same way, and his best singles ranking was No. 217, reached in February 1998. Doubles was where his quick hands, big serve and sharp reading of the net game made the difference.
A first Grand Slam for India
The 1997 French Open mixed title with Hiraki changed the way Indian tennis saw itself. The country had produced fine players before, Ramanathan Krishnan and Vijay Amritraj among them, but none had won a major. Bhupathi’s win came early in his professional life and gave him a profile at home that few doubles players anywhere enjoy. Two years later he added the US Open mixed title with Ai Sugiyama.
The Paes partnership and world No. 1
Bhupathi’s name is tied to that of Leander Paes. The two Indians formed a doubles team in the late 1990s and in 1999 reached the final of all four Grand Slam events. They won two of them, the French Open and Wimbledon, and on 26 April 1999 they became the first all-Indian pair to top the world doubles rankings. In 2001 they won the French Open again.
The partnership had its strains. The two split and reunited more than once, and their differences were well known. On court, though, they were a formidable team, and the pair delivered many of India’s best moments in team tennis.
Majors with different partners
Away from Paes, Bhupathi kept winning. He took the 2002 US Open men’s doubles with Max Mirnyi of Belarus, giving him four men’s doubles majors in all. In mixed doubles he became one of the most successful players of his generation. He won Wimbledon in 2002 with Elena Likhovtseva and again in 2005 with Mary Pierce, then the 2005 US Open with Daniela Hantuchová. At the 2006 Australian Open he partnered Martina Hingis to the title and so completed a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles, winning each of the four majors at least once.
Later he teamed up with Sania Mirza. The pair won the Australian Open mixed title in 2009, the first major for an all-Indian mixed team, and the French Open mixed in 2012. That brought his tally to eight mixed doubles majors. Across his career he won 52 doubles titles on the main professional tour.
Davis Cup and multi-sport Games
Bhupathi represented India in the Davis Cup from 1995 to 2011, playing 55 ties and winning 35 matches, 27 of them in doubles. He was a regular presence for India at the Asian Games as well. At Bangkok in 1998 he won bronze medals in singles, mixed doubles and the team event. At Busan in 2002 he won men’s doubles gold and mixed doubles silver, and at Doha in 2006 he and Paes won doubles gold again. He also won bronze in men’s doubles at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
At the Olympics the medal he wanted eluded him. With Paes he finished fourth at Athens in 2004 after losing the bronze medal match. They reached the quarter-finals in Beijing in 2008, and in London in 2012 he played with Rohan Bopanna.
Life after playing
Bhupathi was a businessman as well as a player. In May 2013 he announced the International Premier Tennis League, a team-based event modelled on cricket’s franchise leagues, which began play in Asia in late 2014. He retired from the tour in 2016. In February 2017 he took over from Anand Amritraj as India’s non-playing Davis Cup captain, having been named to the role in December 2016.
Career record and honours
- Grand Slam titles: 12 (4 men’s doubles, 8 mixed doubles)
- Men’s doubles: French Open 1999, 2001 and Wimbledon 1999 (with Leander Paes); US Open 2002 (with Max Mirnyi)
- Mixed doubles: French Open 1997 (Rika Hiraki), US Open 1999 (Ai Sugiyama), Wimbledon 2002 (Elena Likhovtseva), Wimbledon 2005 (Mary Pierce), US Open 2005 (Daniela Hantuchová), Australian Open 2006 (Martina Hingis), Australian Open 2009 and French Open 2012 (Sania Mirza)
- Career Grand Slam in mixed doubles, completed at the 2006 Australian Open
- World No. 1 in doubles, first reached on 26 April 1999
- 52 tour-level doubles titles
- Davis Cup: 1995 to 2011, 35 match wins; non-playing captain from 2017
- Asian Games: gold in men’s doubles 2002 and 2006; silver in mixed doubles 2002; three bronze medals in 1998
- Commonwealth Games: bronze in men’s doubles, Delhi 2010
- Olympics: fourth in men’s doubles, Athens 2004
- Arjuna Award: 1995
- Padma Shri: 2001
