Mahesh Bhupathi

In India, everyone complains that cricket is the God. True it might be, however, it doesn’t take anything from the fact that India has shown massive success in a few other sports as well. And this has been possible for a few great players like Mahesh Bhupathi. It takes a lot of courage, determination and hard-work to reach the pinnacles of success. No one can doubt Mahesh Bhupathi’s contribution to the world of tennis in India.

Born in 1974 in Chennai, Mahesh Bhupathi is regarded as among the best doubles players in the world with as much as 11 Grand Slam titles under his belt. In 1997, Mahesh Bhupathi became the first Indian in the history of tennis to win a Grand Slam tournament. Winning the Australian Open doubles title in 2006, along with tennis player Sania Mirza, just put another feather in his cap. With this superb win of 2006, he joined the elite list of eight tennis players who have achieved a Career Mixed Doubles Grand Slam.

Mahesh Bhupathi was widely considered as one of the best doubles player in the 90s and the 2000s. in 1999, he won three doubles titles along with another star champion from India, Leander Paes. The titles included the Roland Garros and the Wimbledon, two of the best tournaments to win! Together, they became the first doubles team to reach finals of all four Grand Slams. This was also the first time that such a great feat had been achieved in the Open era and the first time since 1952. The same year, Bhupathi and Paes became the world number one doubles team. Apart from these, Bhupathi also won the mixed doubles the same year.

Mahesh Bhupathi has long been an inspiration and role model to budding tennis players in India. It is amazing to note that Bhupathi has won the Mixed doubles grand slam titles seven times till date. He has also played and won numerous times in the Davis Cup matches and the Asian Games. In fact, such has been his contribution to the world of Sports that he also won the Padma Shri, which is one of India’s highest awards, in 2001.