Bhupathi books Moodie for clay season

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Last updated on: May 03, 2006 17:36 IST

Indian doubles ace Mahesh Bhupathi hopes to combine well with his partner Wesley Moodie and is looking forward to a successful year along with the South African.

"I'm looking forward to playing with him the entire clay court season. We have been playing together for only the last few months. We are hoping to combine well," Bhupathi told newspersons in Kolkata.

Asked whether he was confident of winning some Grand Slam titles with his partner, Bhupathi said "Anything is possible. He is a good player. He won the Wimbledon last year."

Bhupathi would be leaving for Rome on Wednesday to take part in a tournament at the Italian capital before playing in Hamburg, Germany, in the lead-up to the French Open and Wimbledon.

Asked about his sports management company Globosports, Bhupathi said India's top star Sania Mirza, Prakash Amritraj, shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, formula one driver Narain Karthikeyan and cricketer Zaheer Khan were under its ambit.

On whether they were planning to rope in any athlete, Bhupathi said "There is nobody on our radar now. But if there is somebody with great potential, we are game."

Bhupathi is confident that Sania Mirza would be able to leave behind her recent lacklustre showing and make a forceful comeback in the Wimbledon Championship beginning next month.

"She is trying hard and hopefully we will see her come up with a good result in the Wimbledon," Bhupathi said.

On Sania slipping to the 39th spot in the rankings, Bhupathi said "this can happen to any player. Ups and downs do come in a player's career."

Sania, who had climbed up to the 34th spot in the world list, moved down to 40th before improving one position in the latest ranking chart.

Plagued by various injuries, Sania is now taking a three-week break from the court to give herself much-needed rest.

Bhupathi did not agree that India fared poorly in their Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone group 1 play-off tie against Pakistan before managing to win 3-2.

"We always knew that it will be tough. Pakistan's number one player Aisam ul-Haq Qureshi is very good on the grasscourt. We knew that he will give us a run for the money in the two singles matches," he said.

"What is important is that we won. We badly needed to win to stay in group 1 to be in a position to take a shot at the world group," said Bhupathi, now ranked 22nd in doubles.

Asked whether India's efforts to return to the world group were faltrering due to the inability of the second rung players, the lanky tennis star avoided a direct reply.

"There is lot of talent now. Prakash Amritraj, Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Neducheziyan are good. But they have to work hard to break into the top in men's circuit," he said.

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