Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza's win in the French Open gives a fresh twist to India's London challenge. India's best chance for a medal in tennis, after all, is in the mixed doubles and not in the men's doubles.
An Olympic field is stronger than a Grand Slam lineup in doubles. In the majors all the top singles players sit out of doubles. In the Olympics, where the country equation comes into play, singles stars figure prominently in the doubles field.
Some of the likely combinations for London are Rafael Nadal and Marcel Granollers; Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka; Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic; Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; the Murray brothers Andy and Jamie; Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek.
However, most of the top guns are likely to sit out the mixed doubles as three competitions in eight days would make it one event too many.
The All India Tennis Association is pushing for a wildcard for Sania in either singles or doubles so that she'll be eligible to play the mixed doubles. Not that the competition will be any lighter here with Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi; Serena Williams and Bob Bryan; Petra Kvitova and Radek Stepanek; Nenad Zimonjic and Ana Ivanovic likely to feature in the competition, but India has a committed combination in Bhupathi and Sania, who have won two Grand Slam titles together, the second one coming less than a week ago.
Still, AITA's selection committee, which meets in Bangalore on June 15, will debate who Sania should partner should the wildcard come through. Bhupathi, with eight Grand Slam mixed doubles crowns to his credit, should be the automatic choice for a number of reasons.
Paes, with six mixed Slam titles, is the option, but the fact that he also plays the forehand court, which is Sania's strength, works against the pairing.
Besides, Bhupathi and Sania have been playing together for a while now are great friends and work well as a team. Their combined ranking of 26 (Sania is ranked No.12 and Bhupathi No. 14) would help them make the cut.
Bhupathi, however, can play the mixed event only if he plays the doubles - with either Bopanna (they make the cut comfortably) or Paes.
Who India will field in men's doubles will be the focal point of the selection committee meeting later this week. If the selectors go with Bhupathi and Bopanna, they could field a second team with the No.7 ranked Paes playing with a partner of his choice.
India's best bet for a medal in the men's doubles at the Olympics was always going to be Lee-Hesh. Despite their lack of success in the Olympics, where they've played together four times, the old boys could've pulled off a trick or two at the All England Club in July. What they have is history. What they lack is trust.
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