New Delhi, Sep 18: Leander Paes, at the press conference after the Davis Cup doubles match against Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez, made comments about AITA’s selection of the team for the mixed doubles competition. Turns out Sania Mirza, who was one half of the team, does not appreciate the comments made by the player.
On Twitter, Sania wrote- The ONLY way to win with a toxic person, is not to play!!!
Instead of commenting on the issue himself, Rohan Bopanna chose to echo Sania’s sentiments and retweeted her original post..
At the press conference, Paes said, “I can very clearly say that in this Olympics and last Olympics we didn’t put the best team forward. This Olympics the mixed doubles was a great opportunity. What more does a man need to do than win four Grand Slams in 14 months? Th
ere were no more tournaments to win, I could not create anymore tournaments. Sad.”
For mixed doubles, Paes was just coming off winning the French Open title with Martina Hingis. But Sania chose Bopanna over the veteran player.
In the mixed doubles, Bopanna and Sania Mirza had a solid run till the semifinals where they ran into an inspired Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram of the US in the bronze medal playoff match.
India’s men’s doubles team for the Games was selected in controversial circumstances, much like before the 2012 London Olympics. Bopanna, who had broken into the top 10 rankings, wanted to partner Saketh Myneni but his right was shot down by the All India Tennis Association (AITA), who decided to send Paes for his seventh Olympics. PTI