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Paes-Bhupathi ready to roll on grass

Fresh from victory at the French Open, the top-seeded Indian pairing of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi -- Indian Express, to their fans -- begin their quest for a Wimbledon doubles title today with the first round match against the unseeded pair of Tom Kempers and Michael Kohlmann.

The 30-year-old Tom Kempers, of the Netherlands, is ranked 109 in doubles on the ATP list, while 25-year-old Michael Kohlmann of Germany is ranked 101. The two are pairing for the first time.

Oosting, a respected former Davis Cup player, was considered part of a group that was tasked with putting Dutch tennis on the map, ten years back. But Oosting died in a tragic accident in March this year while driving back from a tournament, when his car hit a pole in heavy rain.

The Kempers-Oosting combo had in fact some good results to their credit, including a win over the Woodies. They had also beaten the Paes-Norval team in Sydney last year, and lost to Paes-Bhupathi at the Monte Carlo Open in 1998.

Oosting's death saw Kempers left without a partner. Both players, Kempers and Kohlmann, are tall, six feet two each, and possessed of good serves. Kohlmann, before this team-up, had some pretty good results earlier this year in company of Filippo Veglio of Italy -- the two won a couple of Challenger doubles titles, and had a 14-1 winning streak at one point in February-March this year.

Why the Veglio-Kohlmann combo, so obviously successful, is not being continued here is a bit of a mystery, but the scratch pairing of Kohlmann with Kempers still looks good enough to test the Indians in the first round. Typically at Wimbledon, it is the first round that is the most dangerous for seeded players and teams, simply because they start under pressure and could crack early on, before they find their feet and touch on the grass, while the opponents can relax and play with no pressure whatever.

Leander and Mahesh have a pretty good draw in the top half, with no dark horse teams lying in wait. Potentially dangerous opponents are the ninth seeded Lareau/OBrien pair, or Ferreira/Leach, either of whom could meet the Indians in the quarterfinals.

Leander and Mahesh have lost in the first and the second round at Wimbledon in the last two years, respectively -- further indication of the dangers of early rounds at Wimbledon. Actually, the only success for either of them at Wimbledon since Leander won the junior title here in 1990 was Mahesh reaching the final of the mixed doubles with Mirjana Lucic last year.

In the second quarter of the draw are the 4th seeded Black/Stolle and the 5th seeded Delaitre/Santoro. The bottom half of the 3rd quarter has 6th seeds Knowles/Nestor and 5th seeds Bjorkman/Rafter. And the 8th seeded Haarhuis/Palmer, along with the Woodies seeded two, are in the fourth quarter of the draw.

Unseeded floaters to watch for are MacPhie/Tarango in the second quarter, Reneberg/Stark in the 3rd and Kafelnikov/Mirnyi in the 4th quarter. If one's looking for young turks, then look no further than Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt, who take on 13th seeds Kulti/Tillstrom in the 3rd quarter, and the Bryan twins who are in the top quarter.

It is not a tough draw by Grand Slam standards, for the Indians -- but then, it is Wimbledon. Where upsets are the norm, and seeds are often the first to fall. It will be as much a test of nerve as of skill for the Indians, and what they have going for them are the confidence-high of winning the French Open, and the fact that their relationship, rocky for a while earlier this year, now seems back on track.