Paes not sure of his doubles partner

Leander Paes on Tuesday said he is still unsure about his doubles partner in the crucial Davis Cup tie against Brazil starting here Friday.

Leander Paes on Tuesday said he is still unsure about his doubles partner in the crucial Davis Cup tie against Brazil starting here Friday. Without naming Mahesh Bhupati,Paes talked a lot about available options in the Indian team and said the non-playing captain S P Mishra would take the call as to who will partner him on second day of the tie on Saturday.

It is good to have options and it is going to be tough on the captain to decide. I have full confidence in S P Mishra whom I have known for many years. He has been our lucky captain and so it is up to him to decide, said Paes.

Incidentally,Bhupathi was conspicuous by his absence and thus Paes practised with Rohan Bopanna.

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The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association officials confirmed that Bhupathi would be arriving here by Jet Airways late on Tuesday night.

Saying that he was looking forward to the tie with a lot of expectation,Paes opined that aspects such as the court surface and weather conditions or,for that matter,both Brazilian singles players,Thomaz Bellucci and Ricard Mello,being left-handers were not important at all.

On the tour,we play on different surfaces and players,day in and day out. I dont think it really matters,because at the end of the day,you got to beat them to win the tie. As for the hard court,it is very even because on the tour,you either play on clay or on hard court. So,we are all used to it, he explained.

Paes,who won his first ATP Grand-Slam Doubles title with Bhupathi at this same venue,recounted some of his greatest moments in Davis Cup.

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There are so many of those,but I particularly remember my win against (Goran) Ivanisevic (1995,vs Croatia in Delhi),Frejus of course (vs France in 1992) and there was what I feel was the cleanest tie I have ever played against Jan Siemerink (vs Netherlands in 1996),when I won all my three sets on tie-break, Paes said.