Indian women's tennis is a one woman show and the country is far from producing another genuine world beater, says multiple Grand Slam champion Mahesh Bhupathi.
It is known that Sania Mirza has been a success despite the system and not out of it, but when the forthright Bhupathi speaks, the message has a ring to it.
"To be honest, there is nobody else. The names we talk about, they don't have what it takes to reach that level," Bhupathi said when asked if his sports management firm Globosport had plans to support players other than Sania and the Uberoi sisters.
The ten-time doubles Grand Slam winner, in New Delhi for the launch of Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy's new centre at Palms Town and Country Club in Gurgaon, also did some plainspeaking on the status of men's Davis Cup team which barely avoided relegation to Group 2 with a win over Pakistan this year.
"It bothers me a lot but it is not my job to bridge the gap. That is for the (All India Tennis) Association to do," he said.
So, what are the aims of MBTA?
"We offer a structure, which nobody does in India now. There are lot of coaches who have come up but are not teaching the right methods," Bhupathi said.
"We are trying to build champions. We have programmes from the beginners' level through the intermediate to the advanced.
"The aim is not to be no. 1 in the age group, but to build the potential to reach the top level."
Palms Club is the latest centre of MBTA which also has presence in Bangalore, Mumbai, Cochin, Nagpur and Udaipur.
Besides, potential kids in the age group of 12-15 are handpicked for fully sponsored coaching programme at the MBTA Elite Academy in Bangalore.
The Elite Academy, where Italian Mose Navara and former Davis Cupper Prahlad Srinath are the head coaches, is run by Foundation for Indian Sporting Talent, a trust that is funded by entrepreneurs.
Nandan Nilekani of Infosys had donated about a crore of rupees to FIST.
The MBTA has Gaurav Natekar, another former Davis Cupper and Asian Games gold medallist, as its director.
On his career, Bhupathi said it has not been an entirely disappointing season despite struggling to have a permanent partner since parting midway with Wesley Moodie of South Africa.
"It has been fun, playing with different partners. The challenge has been to gel with different partners," he said. "It has not been that disappointing, I won a Grand Slam (the Australian Open mixed doubles) at the start of the year," said the 32-year old.
Bhupathi is said to play with Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in the coming weeks, although his partner for the US Open is yet to be decided.
