Sania is a quality player: Mahesh Bhupathi

Kochi, Feb 6: Mahesh Bhupathi, India's ace shuttler said that Sania Mirza will be his mixed doubles partner in the coming Grand Slam tournaments this year. He said Sania is playing great tennis and hits the very hard and complements my kind of the play at the net. He added that himself and Sania are always going to be a very dangerous mixed doubles team.

"Sania had recovered from her wrist injury very well. It was heartening to see her back again and she is playing very well. Sania is a quality player," he said, hoping that she would be free of injuries to tackle the coming tournaments. Bhupathi said Mark Knowles will be his partner in coming grand slams doubles events and will pair up with Leander Paes while playing for India in the Davis Cup in the doubles event.

When asked is India lacking tennis infrastructure, he said, "I do not find any problem with the infrastructure in our country. We have more than enough court and tennis academies. Maybe we are little short of expertise. Luckily we have four or five quality coaches in India."

He also praised the performance of 16-year-old Yuki Bhambri, who won the Australian Junior Open Singles title. "Yuki is the best junior player in the country. Yuki is confident and has a bright future," Bhupathi said.

Mahesh Bhupathi said that he is confident that Roger Federer will break the 14 Grand Slam record of Pete Sampras. He added that Rafael Nadal is also a very good player.

Bhupathi was in Kochi in connection with the Regional Sports Centre-Mahesh bhupathi Team Tennis Academy's interaction with the upcoming tennis players. The academy started functioning from Jan 2006.


OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)