Paes, Bhupathi to team up against Brazil in Davis Cup tie

CHENNAI - Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will be back in harness as a doubles combination for the Davis Cup World Group playoff tie against Brazil here this weekend.

The Indian team’s non-playing captain Shiv Prakash Misra said Wednesday at a pre-draw media conference here Wednesday afternoon: “Of course, Leander and Mahesh will play the doubles, but we have the option to change one hour before the commencement of the match. But then, Rohan Bopanna will have to play two singles matches also.”

Last evening, Paes and Bopanna, the finalist at the US Open along with Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, practiced together against a local combination while Bhupathi was still to arrive in city leading to speculation in some quarters over the doubles combination.

Meanwhile, the Indian squad presented a very relaxed picture and the players spent much of the press conference, giggling and laughing besides limiting their responses to one-liners.

All were unanimous in their view that the tie would be tough given the fact that the Brazilians were higher ranked in singles than the Indians.

The draw for the tie will be made Thursday morning by Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi.