The Australian Open Men's Doubles title is the only one eluding both Lee and Hesh... and the expression on Hesh's face after the win in the semis and the hug that he received from Lee after that went quite an extent in showing how much both these men want this particular title.
However, I have spotted a little something and I don't know whether I am reading too much into it. A sequence of events occurred... and as a result, here I am writing this blog.
Event 1: While watching the replay of their semis encounter against the 2nd-seeded pair of Mirnyi - Nestor, I noticed Bhupathi reaching down towards one of his legs (I think it could have been the hamstring) as if trying to stretch it a little bit. This occurred towards the end of the match... when Lee-Hesh were close to wrapping up a win. During his last service game when Bhupathi served out for the match, I felt that he did a few extra hops and skips before unleashing his serves.
Event 2: After watching the replay of the match, I was flipping the news channels on the television. One of the channels had their reporter talking over the telephone to the father of Mahesh Bhupathi. He mentioned that Bhupathi felt a bit of an injury strain during the semi-finals match and hoped that he would recover and be fine for the finals against Mike Bryan - Bob Bryan. He even went on to predict that if Bhupathi could recover fully before the finals, they would go on to beat the American duo and win the Australian Open 2011.
Event 3: Next, I went online and was checking the official website of Australian Open to see the other results of the day. I wanted to see, in particular, the result of the Mixed Doubles Quarter Final match that Bhupathi was supposed to be a part of (after his Men's Doubles semi-finals) - Anastasia Rodionova (Aus) and Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) v. 2nd-seeds Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) and Daniel Nestor (Can). And what I saw there worried me. The 2nd-seeded pair had won the match courtesy of a 'Walkover'.
Now even though I have not read or heard any news in this regard, I think I would be right in assuming that Bhupathi had decided to forfeit this match because of his injury and give himself the best chance of recovery for the Men's Doubles finals against the best team in the business.
Luckily for Lee-Hesh, they are scheduled to play their finals late on Saturday night after the Women's Singles finals between Chinese Li Na and Belgian Kim Clijsters is contested. So, Bhupathi has the maximum amount of time he could have hoped for in order to facilitate his recovery. And I do hope that he recovers well enough and Lee-Hesh go on to win the title, the Australian Open 2011, and complete their Career Grand Slams in Men's Doubles! I do have more hopes from this duo, but that is for later...
2 comments:
Hope they do win...
And realize...
What they missed all these years thanks to 'EGO' clashes !
I think that the realisation of what could have been has already started to take shape in their heads. This reunion for the Australian Open is, in my opinion, a direct result of that urge to make up for what they have lost.
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