India’s Mahesh Bhupathi is one of the best doubles players of his generation. He is the winner of four Grand Slam doubles crowns and seven Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.
His longevity is particularly impressive. He won his first mixed doubles Slam in 1997 and his most recent in 2009.
Bhupathi is currently ranked No. 6 in the world in doubles, and is a former No. 1. As a singles player, he is just 10-28 in his career and has never been ranked higher than 217th.
In all, he has reached 85 doubles finals on tour and won 46 titles. Most famously, he is known for his deteriorating friendship with fellow top Indian player Leander Paes. The pair won three Grand Slam titles together from 1999-2001, and finished as the runners-up in two others. Although neither Paes nor Bhupathi has ever given an official reason for their split, the two announced they would never play together again after winning the 2006 Asian Games. It appeared they would do so again at the 2008 Summer Olympics, but Bhupathi later sent a letter to the Indian Tennis Association that he had opted for a different partner. The organization rejected Bhupathi’s wish, and the pair played together, losing in the quarterfinals to Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka.
Late in 2010, Bhupathi and Paes announced they would play together at the Australian Open in 2011, marking the first time they would be on court as a team together in an ATP event since 2002. Of Paes’ 46 career doubles titles, 23 are with Paes.
Bhupathi’s first Grand Slam title came in 1997 when he teamed with Japan’s Rika Hiraki to take the mixed doubles title at the French open. Two years later, he and Japan’s Ai Sugiyama won the crown at the US Open.
That season, 1999, was his best on court, as he and Paes teamed up to win the Australian Open, a memorable 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(10), 6-4 win over Jonas Bjorkman and Patrick Rafter, and later added the US Open crown.
Bhupathi claimed the No. 1 ATP doubles ranking for the first time on April 26, 1999, and was ranked either first, second or third from Nov. 11, 1998 until Jan. 31, 2000, a span of 63 weeks.
He started a consecutive streak of weeks ranked in the Top 10 on Jan. 12, 1998 which lasted until April 3, 2000, a span of 116 weeks.
Bhupathi notched the third leg of the mixed doubles Grand Slam when he teamed with Russia’s Elena Likhovtseva to win Wimbledon in 2002.
In 2003, he partnered with Belarus’ Max Mirnyi to win the doubles title at Wimbledon, his first Slam in four years. After falling as low as 59th in the doubles rankings, Bhupathi re-entered the Top 10 on June 11, 2001. He fell to 12th for one week later that year then started another streak of time in the Top 10 beginning Aug. 13, 2001 that ran until May 16, 2005 – 196 straight weeks.
He won just won men’s doubles Slam during that time, but added two more mixed crowns, teaming with Mary Pierce to win Wimbledon in 2005, and with Daniela Hantuchova to take the title at the US Open.
In 2006, he completed the mixed doubles Grand Slam by pairing with Martina Hingis to win the Australian Open, becoming only the eighth man to finish the mixed doubles career Slam.
In 2009 at the age of 35, Bhupathi experienced a doubles’ revival. After falling to 11th in May of 2005, he was ranked outside of the Top 10 for nearly three years, falling as far as 29th.
He re-entered the Top 10 in May of 2008, and spent all but one week of 2009 there. To kick off that season, he teamed with The Bahamas’ Mark Knowles to claim the Australian Open title against American powerhouses Mike and Bob Bryan, winning the event 10 years after his first doubles’ Slam. He made the Australian Open a doubles delight by teaming up with fellow Indian Sania Mirza to win the mixed doubles crown.
Bhupathi and Knowles went on to win the US Open crown, defeating Paes and partner Luka Dlouhy in the final, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Personal
In 2001, he was awarded India’s highest civilian honor, the Padma Shri. He attended the University of Mississippi, winning the 1995 NCAA doubles title, making all-America twice and finishing the 1995 season as the No. 1 ranked doubles player and No. 3 ranked singles player. He was formerly married to model Shvetha Jaishankar for seven years, but the two eventually split up. In late 2010, Bhupathi announced via Twitter that he was engaged to Lara Dutta, a former Miss Universe and current Bollywood actress.