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Doubles offers for Bhupathi

Indian tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi says he has offers from Wayne Ferriera and Jonas Bjorkman to play doubles with him following his reported split with Leander Paes.

Amid reports that all is over for the Paes-Bhupathi pair which brought laurels to the country as the world's No 1 doubles combination, Bhupathi, presently playing with Mike Knowles in Hamburg (Germany), told Zee News that he has accepted the split and is now looking for a new partner. He is believed to be weighing the offers from Ferreira of South Africa and Bjorkman of Sweden.

Reacting to reports that his coach Enrico Piperno is the root cause of the rift between the two as stressed by Leander, Bhupathi said: ''There are several other core issues to be settled with Leander and the Piperno factor is being blown out of proportion.''

Piperno, who is also with Bhupathi in Hamburg, said he is hurt by Leander's allegations and ready to leave Mahesh and go back to Calcutta if it helps the two come together as a pair.

Leander's father, Dr Vece Paes, said he tried his best to put the pair together but ''it is too late now".

Mahesh's father Krishna Bhupathi said nothing worked out despite some brain-storming sessions with Vece Paes.

However, the two fathers assured that their sons will play together for the Davis Cup and the Sydney Olympics, while saying that there is no chance of them playing together on the ATP circuit ''as of now''.

According to Bhupathi senior, the split looked imminent during 1999 itself but it (the pair) somehow managed to stretch the partnership till now.

On Sunday, Leander broke his silence on the issue during an interview with Star News, blaming Piperno as the reason for his split with Bhupathi.

Paes said he will not play again on the ATP Tour with Mahesh for the rest of the year, but did not rule out getting together in future.

The deadly duo had reached a record four Grand Slam doubles finals last year, winning the French Open and Wimbledon titles.

During the interview from his Orlando home, Leander had said that 1999 was one of the best years for Mahesh and him on the court and ''one of the worst off it''.

Paes said he had been accused by Piperno of not respecting Mahesh after the pair's win at the French Open last year.

He also charged Piperno with showing disrespect to his coach Bob Carmichael. He said as long as Piperno is with Mahesh, it is impossible for the 'pair' to come together on the courts.

UNI