Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi: The Indian Express and tennis in wonderland!

In 1996, Leander Paes made history by becoming the first Indian to win an individual Olympic medal since 1952 with bronze at the Atlanta Olympics.

It was Indian tennis’ first Olympic medal and ended a medal drought India had endured in the past three Olympic Games.

In 1997, Mahesh Bhupathi made history when he became the first Indian to win a Grand Slam title, winning the French Open mixed doubles with Japan’s Rika Hiraki.

That same year, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi would team up regularly in men’s doubles competitions around the world.

Leander Paes was adept at the net while Mahesh Bhupathi was a strong baseline player - which meant they would complement each other perfectly. The duo’s famous chest-bump celebration would soon become iconic.

The pair, soon nicknamed the Indian Express, would prove to be one of the best doubles pairs in the years to come - winning three Grand Slam titles, 25 ATP Tour titles, rising to world No. 1 and still holding the Davis Cup record for the longest streak of doubles victories.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi team up

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi first teamed up in 1994, winning a few ATP Challenger level titles in 1995 and 1996 and also played in the Davis Cup together as a pair.

However, 1997 was the first time that the duo would play together regularly and it would prove to be an instant hit.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won their first ATP Tour title together at the Chennai Open in April 1997, made even sweeter by the fact that it had come on home soil.

The pair went on to add five more ATP Tour titles that year, across clay and hard courts, getting their partnership off to a solid start.

In 1998, the duo won a further six ATP Tour titles together and reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open, French Open and US Open.

Indian tennis seemed to get a new lease of life with this bubbling partnership and it would soon realise its potential.

The Indian Express’ Golden Year: 1999

The year before the end of the millennium would prove to be an epoch-making one for the pair, affectionately known as Lee-Hesh.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi would reach the men’s doubles finals of all four Grand Slams - winning the French Open and Wimbledon - and rise to world No. 1 in the men’s doubles tennis rankings, in addition to an ATP Tour title in Chennai.

The 1999 Australian Open was the first Grand Slam final for Leander Paes and a third for Mahesh Bhupathi. It was the first men’s doubles Grand Slam final for both players.

The Indian Express, seeded first, fought hard but ultimately fell 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, 4-6 to Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman and Australian Patrick Rafter.

Lee-Hesh did not have to wait long for that elusive first Grand Slam title together.

At the 1999 French Open, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi beat the Croatian-American pair of Goran Ivanisevic and Jeff Tarango 6-2, 7-5 in the final to become the first all-Indian pair to win a Grand Slam championship.

This victory catapulted Lee-Hesh to world No. 1 in the men’s doubles, a ranking they would hold on to for the rest of the year.

The 1999 Wimbledon brought more joy as Leander and Mahesh came from a set down to beat the Netherlands’ Paul Haarhuis and the USA’s Jared Palmer 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 to win a second Grand Slam.

It was another sweet victory as the pair’s record on grass courts had not been great at that point.

Incredibly, the Indian duo would reach the final of the US Open as well, but fell 7-6, 6-4 to the Canadian-American pair of Sebastien Lareau and Alex O’Brien.

Indian tennis - which had promised much for years without much success - had finally delivered players who could legitimately be called among the best in the world.

More success and Leander-Mahesh’s split

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi continued their terrific partnership for the next couple of years, winning seven ATP Tour titles, the 2001 French Open - their third and final Grand Slam title as a pair - and the Asian Games gold medal in 2002.

But a few cracks had developed in their relationship and they decided to part ways in 2002.

In the coming years, Mahesh Bhupathi would win the men’s doubles title at the 2002 US Open with Belarus’ Max Mirnyi while Leander Paes would not win another men’s doubles Grand Slam till the 2006 US Open with Czech Republic’s Martin Damm.

Both tasted Grand Slam success in the mixed doubles.

Ahead of the 2004 Athens Olympics, Lee-Hesh decided to team up once again and immediately won the 2004 Canadian Masters title. The partnership almost created another magical moment together at the 2004 Olympics.

Lee-Hesh beat American duo Mardy Fish-Andy Roddick in the first round of the men’s doubles and Swiss pair Yves Allegro-Roger Federer in the second.

A third-round win against Zimbabwe’s Wayne Black-Kevin Ullyet followed before the Indian pair fell to Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer-Rainer Schuttler in the semis.

With a bronze medal on the line, Leander and Mahesh dragged the match long but eventually fell 6-7, 6-4, 14-16 against Croatia’s Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic to finish fourth.

The pair won a second-consecutive men’s doubles gold at the 2006 Asian Games.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi also decided to team up for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and reached the quarter-finals, where they fell to eventual champions Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

Almost a decade after splitting as regular partners, Lee-Hesh paired up again on the ATP Tour in 2011.

The duo won the Chennai Open that year and looked to have rekindled their incredible partnership when they reached the 2011 Australian Open final. 

However, a fourth Grand Slam title did not follow as the Indian Express fell 6-3, 6-4 to American twins Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.

Nevertheless, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi would win ATP Tour titles at Miami and Cincinnati in 2011 before parting ways for the final time.

Lee-Hesh’s Davis Cup record

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi hold the Davis Cup record for most consecutive wins with 24, a run that began in 1997 and extended till 2010.

Lee-Hesh first played a Davis Cup together as a pair in 1995, when they beat Croatia’s Sasa Hirszon and Goran Ivanisevic. 

They then lost two ties in 1996 - against Dutch pair Jacco Eltingh/Paul Haarhuis and the Swedish team of Jonas Bjorkman/Nicklas Kulti. The second one would prove to be Lee-Hesh’s last loss as a pair in the Davis Cup.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi began their 24-match winning streak against Czech Republic’s Martin Damm and Petr Korda in the 1997 Davis Cup.

Despite issues in their relationship in the coming years, Lee-Hesh would inevitably turn up together in the Davis Cup, winning matches every year from 1997 to 2010, except 2007, totalling 24 consecutive victories.

Leander and Mahesh’s final Davis Cup win as a pair came against Brazil’s Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in 2010, after which they have not played together in the men’s team tournament.

Mahesh Bhupathi would finally announce his retirement in 2013, after winning 12 Grand Slam titles - four men’s doubles and eight mixed doubles.

Leander Paes - who has won 18 Grand Slams (eight men’s doubles and 10 mixed doubles) - had planned to retire in 2020 after playing his eighth and final Olympics at Tokyo.

However, the one-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic put paid to those plans and it is not clear if Leander will continue playing at the international level.