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Leander blames Mahesh's coach Piperno for split

Breaking his silence, India's number one tennis player Leander Paes has blamed his former doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi's coach Enrico Piperno for their split.

The deadly duo had reached all four Grand Slam finals last year and won the French Open and Wimbledon titles, but have now decided to part ways on the ATP circuit.

Paes said he would not play again on the ATP Tour with Bhupathi for the rest of the year, but has not ruled out getting back together in the future.

In his first interview since the break-up, Paes told STAR News from his home in Orlando, Florida, "Last year we had one of our best years on the court, and one of the worst years off it. There were many incidents last year when Mahesh and I wanted to terminate our partnership, but we stuck on and played together as a professional team."

An emotionally charged Paes said the partnership had been struggling for the past one and a half years. He added that the last five months, when Bhupathi was injured, gave both players time away from each other to evaluate the facts, and that was when their partnership broke.

He blamed Piperno for the split, saying he had been accused by Piperno of not respecting Bhupathi after their win at the French Open.

Paes said, "Piperno also showed disrespect to my coach Bob Carmichael, saying that the old man did not help our partnership at all."

He said these small incidents had got magnified and an unhealthy environment had been created for him. While he respected Bhupathi's decision to stay with Piperno for the rest of the year, he had to protect and develop his own career and personality too. "I have to preserve my self-respect, and I cannot do that under the present arrangement."

The Davis Cup star admitted there is a lack of trust between him and Bhupathi today. "The fact is that Mahesh's coach Enrico Piperno, by badmouthing me to Mahesh, my sponsors and my friends, created a lack of trust in the friendship between Mahesh and myself, and that is something that eventually got the better of us," he said.

Paes said that as long as Piperno is with Bhupathi, it is impossible for him to play with him. Since Bhupathi has decided to stay with Piperno for this year, it looks unlikely that the deadly duo will play together at least for this year.

"I am playing with Jan Siemerink at the moment, and we've done well in the last two weeks. My aim is to qualify for the world doubles masters with Siemerink, so I am committed to him for the rest of the year."

But Paes said he expects to play with Bhupathi in the Olympics and the Davis Cup. "Let's see how it goes, maybe we might get together next year. But for now, it's all over."

UNI