Legendary Indian tennis players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi marked the 22nd anniversary of their 1999 Wimbledon win with some camaraderie on Twitter—setting the internet on fire in the process.
“22 years ago today, we became the first Indians to win @Wimbledon. As two young boys all we dreamt of was making our country proud!” Paes tweeted, tagging Bhupathi.
Twitter went abuzz after Bhupathi replied, “Hmmm ..That was special!! Do you think it’s time to write another chapter?”.
The two shuttlers had multiple public feuds since their 1999 win. Bhupathi had, in 2017, dropped Paes from the Davis Cup team—marking the first time in 27 years that Paes wouldn’t compete in the tournament.
Paes replied to Bhupathi’s tweet saying, “I’m always game. what’s the plan?” to which Bhupathi replied, “Let me get back to you!! In the mean time Happy 22nd anniversary”.
Showing that the camaraderie was still there, Paes asked Bhupathi how his backhand was feeling, to which Bhupathi replied, “Made a few in practice yesterday !! Too bad there are no wild cards at the Olympics this year”.
In 2019, Paes launched his “One Last Road” campaign to end his career with a bang. Announcing 2020 as his last year on tour, his plans to end his career with a record eight Olympic appearance in 2020 were thrown astray by the pandemic.
However, this year India would only be represented in women’s doubles as no other players managed to make the cut. Sania Mirza and debutant Ankita Raina will be representing India at Tokyo.
As a wild card entry in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, Paes had earned India’s first individual Olympic medal in 44 years.