Mahesh backs Sania

May 03, 2006

Sania Mirza slump in form is temporary and she will come back strongly in the ensuing tournaments, ace Indian tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi said here today.

Ups and downs do happen in a player career. Sania is trying hard and hopefully we will see some good results from her at Wimbledon, Bhupathi said. The winner of 10 Grand Slam doubles titles was in the city to launch the mascot of the Sunfeast Open 2006, a Tier III WTA tournament, to be held at Netaji Indore Stadium from 18-24 September. It was also announced that the tournament will be an annual affair to be supported by ITC Foods till 2009.

Asked whether the list of players to take part in this year edition has been decided, Bhupathi said: The players to take part this year will be announced six weeks prior to the tournament.

On his personal front, Bhupathi said he will combine with Wesley Moodie from South Africa for the entire clay-court season. Bhupathi will leave tomorrow for a tournament in Rome, as a lead-up to the French Open.

Talking about his sports management company Globosport, Bhupathi said they were working with almost all top players of India. We are managing Sania, shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, cricketer Zaheer Khan and former Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan. We also manage Prakash Amritraj and have recently signed Dipika Palekar, a snooker player. I do not have anyone else on my radar as of now, he said. Asked whether he had some specific plans about the dearth of good singles players in India, he said: There are talents in our team, but they have to work very hard.