PKBasu wrote:Now, that is a reasonable statement. When PaeSa lost in Chennai, too many in the forum used the opportunity to jump on Paes, and use it as an opportunity to beat up on him. That they are a completely new pairing was quickly forgotten.
Though I did not go too harsh on Paes, but I did say that this pairing does not look good to me. I still will hold that and I hope they prove me wrong. I am a big Leander and will remain his fan. I used to go to watch US Open only because of him and still go to watch him and now others too.
My reason for calling this pairing a bad one is because Paes, albeit still good, doesn't have the same exact game, but even more important thing is that his partner is whom I did not trust much. I still have faith in Paes, but not sure how SA will fair in the coming games. I think he seems to be learning a thing or two from Paes now.
All his partners learn a lot of doubles skills (and fitness drills) from Leander. The guy is a master of the game. Mahesh would have been nobody in tennis had he not partnered Leander. RB has taken it upon himself to make Leander his enemy, which is simply short-sighted -- and an attempt to get at a legend in the twilight of his career.
PKBasu wrote:All his partners learn a lot of doubles skills (and fitness drills) from Leander. The guy is a master of the game. Mahesh would have been nobody in tennis had he not partnered Leander. RB has taken it upon himself to make Leander his enemy, which is simply short-sighted -- and an attempt to get at a legend in the twilight of his career.
Brilliant come back here. Don't know if you are watching. They are down a set and Demoliner was serving for the match. Paes/Sa broken them and now it is 6-5 on serve. Heading towards a tie break in 2nd.
I was surprised to see Leander serve really fast today. Have watched many games of his from court side and never saw him serve this fast. He got something special for us before he call quits totally.
What Leander has done does not matter (at least to me). I will support Karunuday even if he has not done much. Even though I am a Leander fan and always have been, I have also supported (as have almost everyone here) Mahesh, Rohan, and every Indian player. That is the charter of the forum. We are a tolerant bunch but that does not mean you will not get some pushback from us
Yeah exactly. I stand behind every Indian sportsperson irrespective. I'm going to bemoan their failings once in a while, and I'm going to have some favorites, and on the rare occasions two of them go head to head I will probably express a preference. But doing so when an Indian plays someone random is in poor taste for this forum.
bujilover wrote:I hope that Marcus/Marcelo pair wins this match.
I'm sure there is a forum dedicated to Brazilian or New Zealand sports where you can take that sentiment. It doesn't belong here.
Yea, actually I am better off from a forum like this where a member that follow sports twice the number of years than me write a meaningless statement like this - "So India's #1 falls at the first hurdle outside India..." because that he has a hard time accepting Paes is failing.
Sorry, PKB's statement is factually correct. Does not mean or imply that he will fall at the second hurdle since we are all aware that RB is capable of winning doubles matches at the ATP and GS level. His challenge to greatness remains his inability to win a GS mens doubles title.
On the other hand, stating that LP is failing is an opinion because it has to be evaluated relative to something. If it is compared to his prior greatness (multiple mens and mixed doubles GS titles) then it is valid. On the other hand, very few 44 old's are competing at the top level of a worldwide professional athletic sport (in any sport), so the fact that he is still competitive could also be viewed as an amazing achievement.
In any case, wishing an Indian loses is a lot more immature and objectionable than stating that someone has had a bad loss (i.e., after they have had that loss). Furthermore, at least for me, PKB's analysis and context adds immeasurably more to this forum than the churlish comments of some....
Well, I respect PKB's knowledge and posts too though I try to argue because I like to argue. However, given his previous posts which showed some dislike for Rohan, that post, while being factually correct, was a subtle dig at our #1 doubles player. At least that was my reading. Maybe it was exasperation. But, he did not explicitly call for RB's defeat. I know I am not following my own advice by posting this. But, can we please close this issue and not comment on it and move on? I will not comment any further on this.
I am an LP fan. But, I want RB to get to #1 and stay there until he is 45 and break all records. I don't want Dinesh or PKB to stop posting. And, sometimes, we do immature, churlish things. I have done plenty of it on this board. Time to move on.
Did Sashi Menon ever lambast Vijay Amritraj or Ramesh Krishnan, or indeed did Ramesh Krishnan publicly attack Vijay when he was past his prime (ie, in his mid-30s)? Absolutely not.
Rohan Bopanna is simply not in the same league as Leander Paes, but has gone out on a limb to attack him viciously for several years -- and sadly, the majority of forum members seem to have joined these tirades, especially gloating when PaeSa lost their first match as a pair (to DiPu, a very well-settled pair that has played very close matches against Paes with several of his most recent partners). I did not respond to this gloating, except with a single line post when Bopanna-Cuevas similarly lost their first match together.
I support Bopanna despite this silliness on his part (which I regularly decry). Heck, I think I may have played a part (in rousing an audience) to inspire one of his best performances of the IPTL this year, when he and Sania won a superb MxD match 6-0. (A good friend of mine, who played national level tennis against LP, MB and their generation, and lives in Singapore, teases me often about my cheering that day: he is totally opposed to RB, because of his tirades against LP). I have cheered RB whenever I have watched him play; he has wonderful skills and talent. But the simple fact is that he has never actually won an important Davis Cup singles rubber (a couple of heroic defeats being his best performance, including a match against Verkerk where a line call stood between him and victory, a la Saketh-Vesely at Flushing Meadows last year), and has yet to win a Slam doubles or MxD title. Until he does that, he has no right to lead vicious attacks on the legendary Paes.
On the other hand, when Somdev was leading an anti-Paes action among the players, there was more justification for it -- given that Somdev has achieved a bit more in singles arguably (CWG and Asiad singles gold, a slightly higher career high ranking) than Leander. Yuki, on the other hand, had not earned the right to criticize Leander in 2012, when he gave some immature press statements in the leadup to the Olympics.
Anyway, I hope this is the end of this tawdry exchange. I shan't be contributing any more to it after the above clarification.
PKB, with all due respect, If you think someone shouldn't attack Lee, it should be because he doesn't deserve it...not because the attacker has no major achievements! Winning a grandslam or a Davis cup match wouldn't buy anyone a free ticket to criticize others who achieved it already, whether or not that individual's name is Leander Paes. In the same vein, despite all his glorious achievements Lee too acted immensely childish in more situations than we would like to imagine. I am pretty sure everyone in this forum forgets those episodes and cheers Lee, just as vociferously as you cheered Bops. At times when emotions run too high, we tend forget the fact that all of us in this forum are tied to each other with the chord of "insane love for Indian Tennis/sports".
