The Rediff Interview / Enrico Piperno

'Mahesh and Leander realize that without each other the magic is missing'

Former national champion Enrico Piperno did not quite fulfill his potential as a tennis player. Son of Alberto Piperno, a horse racing bookmaker from an Anglo-Burmese family, he was Leander Paes's trainer before parting ways with India's No 1 player in bad taste.

It was he who was held responsible for the split between the champion doubles pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Paes last year, when an emotionally-charged Paes said the partnership had been struggling for the past one-and-a-half years, and Piperno was the cause of the split.

Piperno, however, continues to plot the course of Bhupathi's career, as his coach. The 38-year-old former India Davis Cup coach spoke to Faisal Shariff about the split, the patch-up and the prospects of the former World doubles champions. Excerpts.

What is the key to being a good doubles player?

You have to work as a unit. Mahesh and Leander were the epitome of that when they ran into four Grand Slam finals in a year. They complimented each other. Leander was very good at the net and Mahesh was so solid from the back. They helped each other and they knew each other's game very well, which was the key.

Do you think you can develop a partnership or it has to come naturally?

I think it has to be worked on. Nothing comes naturally. This game is so tough now. Everyone is so competitive and everyone is so good. All these matches are decided on one or two points here and there. You have to really work at it. Leander, Mahesh, Bob [Carmichael] (Leander's coach) and I travel together on the tour and we really groom these guys into being a very good unit.

How would you see the two of them after and before their split-up?

It was sad about what happened. A lot of things were said in the press, and I believe that if you have differences they should be settled privately and not publicly. That was what really upset me. They were playing great tennis at that time and to get back to what they were playing is going to be a very long and hard battle. They have lost their confidence in their games.

Leander is ranked 18-19 in the world in doubles and his confidence is not there. When you dominate a certain sport you will find a lot of dominating teams winning a lot of close matches. It is because people are happy to just get to that position against them.

They cannot believe that they can win. But now that has changed. Now that these guys have had problems and they haven't had a good year the other guys believe that they can beat them. And I think that is the edge in professional sport.

Otherwise, everybody is as good as everybody else. The margin in difference of standards is minimal. But in the last year, when Mahesh and Leander stepped on court, the opponents were happy to win a set from them. They were happy to go 7-6 in the third with them. Now it's changed and the guys believe that they can beat them. And that is what makes a very big difference.

If you watch a lot of doubles you will notice that a lot of the games are very close. They will really have to start playing well again. It will not happen overnight.

When they were going through rough times, didn't you ever try to broker peace between them?

I tried very hard to sort things out between Mahesh and Leander, but I failed. I thought I was very close to Leander but I realized I wasn't. And I tried very hard, but one was in Venus and the other was in Mars.

So what really went wrong with the guys?

There are too many stories. If I were to go into them then it would take a lifetime. The truth is that I wasn't to blame. They used me.

Who used you?

The media and the boys, to some extent; Leander and his father did use me to some extent. But I was not to blame. There were other factors and it's only fair that they tell India and the world what exactly the problem was. I really think that at the moment where we stand, we are all making an attempt to get back and we are all making a big concerted effort to bring them back as a team. So I think we should not reopen it. We should try and put the past behind us and, hopefully, it is behind us.

Why did Mahesh and Paes say that they are looking at their relationship on a day-to-day basis? What do you think does that statement imply?

They are not sure. They are professionals and they are going to feel the ground that they are standing on. It's a certain magic that they do have and if they do not play together they are going to lose that. Throughout this whole episode I have said that they must stick together and play together. Many people can have major differences; even the Woodies had major differences in personalities. They were not friends off the court, they wouldn't hang out and socialize together but they were a great team. I kept saying that it is very difficult for you two to be friends anymore after what you two have been through. But I insisted that they should be professional and practice together and play. I think that it can still be done.

Hesh and Paes had not only stopped talking, it was much worse than that. They completely lost contact and there was complete breakdown of communication. And it was very sad.

Were you in touch with any of the guys during that period?

I was travelling with Mahesh. I have travelled with Mahesh all year. Leander travels with Bob, and Leander was not to be found after his injury. Mahesh had an injury and he tried to come back on the tour and we were together for 5-6 weeks. Leander got injured; he disappeared for two-and-a-half months and then things were just terrible at that time. I think they need to put their past behind them. The media should stop probing them and should just let them be. Let them just play; let them take it on a day-to-day basis, if that's what they want. I fail to understand why the players need to explain to the media in India. Do they owe it to them about what they're feeling? Why dwell on the past?

But is it really the past?

Yes, I think it is. I think Mahesh and Leander both realize that without each other the magic is missing. They both realize that they need to be professional about it. And I really believe that there is a chance, and I pray to God that they win a good tournament soon. Winning is everything.

They came back before the US Open; they had a terrible US Open and then they lost in the Olympics, and then they won in Tokyo. But there was hardly any good team in Tokyo. There were Tarango and Hill, very ordinary doubles players. They had not had a big win. I wasn't expecting them to do anything at the US Open. It's not that easy. Leander was coming off an injury for three months and Mahesh was having his shoulder problem. His shoulder thing is a day-to-day thing. He has a steel plate in his shoulder. There is a steel band joining his rotator cuff to his bicep tendon. He has had a very serious surgery and the doctor told him that it is a career-threatening injury. Mahesh, all credit to him, has done the rehabilitation and has worked very hard for 4-5 hours everyday in New York. This kid has given it his all. These guys are really fighting through a lot right now to come together.

Describe Leander, the way you've known him?

He is an extroverted kid. He was a very happy-go-lucky sort of guy. That has changed lately; maybe success, maybe something else. He was a very relaxed-sort-of character when I travelled with him in 1990-91. He was great; there were no inhibitions, no egos. I have seen him change over the last couple of years.

What changes have you seen?

Nothing much. He's just a little more into himself. He was not like that before. Leander is a great kid and whatever happened between Leander and me, I've always considered him as my younger brother. The day he came to me and said that we forget the past, I agreed immediately.

I really respect him a lot and I think he has been great for tennis in this country. You know, I believe that Vijay Amritraj, Anand Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan never played in India. They never made any attempt to play in India. I think 'Lee' and 'Hesh' have been great ambassadors for tennis in India.

You said that you thought you were close to Leander but you weren't. When did you realise that?

Last year, when the shit hit the fan, my name started appearing in the press. I didn't want to say anything because I thought I don't owe it to anybody to explain my position. I only owe it to my family and to God. I have never been brought up to believe that if you and I have a problem then we should go public about it. Did I make a statement about it? Did Mahesh make a statement about it? He just said very little about it. We decided that we were going to keep this out of the media. If I were to blame, would Mahesh continue to travel with me? What does he stand to gain? He stands to lose a partner; he stands to lose millions of dollars. And all this to have me around? Who am I? Why would he do that?

How would you describe Mahesh Bhupathi?

Mahesh is a great kid. Introverted as hell, has a great sense of humour and is very intelligent. He knows what he wants. He is a quiet doer. He goes about doing his things in a very quiet manner. But he's been unbelievable and even through all this he stood by me. Mahesh is more mature than his age suggests.

Where do you see their relationship going? How long do you think they will take..?

Their relationship will take a while to go. Let's not kid ourselves on that. But I think as tennis players, as a doubles team, six months. If they have no injuries and they keep working away they will be fine in six months.

Why is doubles never given the recognition it deserves? What do you feel are the reasons therein?

It's very sad. The ATP doesn't market the game. They market individuals and individuals, which are singles players. So people start believing that doubles is a non-entity. They believe that when the singles players play doubles they will win hands down which is wrong. But when Mahesh and Leander played [TIm] Henman and [Pete] Sampras at Queen's Club they beat them 6-1, 6-1. Doubles is a specialist sport and it's not fair that these guys come and bust their jobs playing doubles and they don't get their due respect. That is unfair. And I don't see much help from the ATP.

The World doubles championship, in fact, if it didn't come to India then the event was to be scrapped. They were planning not to have the event. There were no bidders and the ATP didn't want to do it on their own and it was almost a non-entity of an event. It's very sad that doubles has had to reach this stage. We were in Bangalore for the doubles event, where was Mark Miles, the ATP CEO? He didn't think it was necessary to come. These things send a terrible message to everybody.