Calcutta: Mahesh Bhupathi ended on the winning side of the Calcutta leg of the Tennis Masters, here on Wednesday. After the match, Bhupathi said he had another reason to boast of. “I have been lucky. I can boast that I have played with all these great players at the top level,” he said, after the match got over at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

He added that it was great to come back to Calcutta, since the city has a fantastic tennis tradition. “I made my Davis Cup debut against Hong Kong here. That will always be special,” he said.

Bhupathi is also associated with the Jaidip Mukerjea Tennis Academy in the city.  Bhupathi was also all praise for the legendary Martina Navratilova, his opponent on court on Wednesday, saying she has been a fantastic ambassador for the sport.

His partner, Sania Mirza said this has been an awesome year for her, and for Indian tennis. She has won 10 doubles titles this year, including two Grand Slams with Martina Hingis. The duo won nine of the 10 titles.

“The pressure is always on us. Every time we are on court, we are hunted. People are always trying to beat us. We trust each other. It would be amazing to win another Slam next year. But it’s not easy to win a calendar Slam. We feel really confident, but at the same time we can’t take anything for granted.

“You always have to keep fighting no matter how good you get. I had a great year. I still want to get better and win more titles next year. Tennis players are always greedy, so we want to win more. If you stop wanting more, then that’s where the motivation dies. It’s something I’ve learnt from Navratilova.”

On Indian tennis, Sania said: “Being at the top is more believable and achievable now. The kids believe that if Sania can do it, so can we. It’s so close to home. Yuki (Bhambri) cracked the top-100 after Somdev (Dev Varman). We have that crop coming up. The women are struggling a bit maybe, but we still have a couple of them in top 300 or so.
“Everything takes time to build. It does not happen overnight. Hopefully in next three to four years, when we’re done, we’ll have people competing at the highest level on a regular basis.”

Asked about her plans for Rio Olympics, she said: “For me, it’s still six-seven months away. I’m not really thinking about it. It’s at the back of my head, but I will take a call closer to the Olympics. The best team should be put forward in any case so that India can win a medal.”

Leander Paes said: “It’s been a phenomenal year for Indian tennis. For myself and Sania (Mirza) as well. She’s No. 1 in the world now. I think that is paving the way for other Indian girls to go and see what they can do. She gives them belief.

“It goes back to what Mahesh (Bhupathi) and I did in the 90s. When we got won all those Grand Slams. We paved the way for youngsters to believe that they can be No. 1 as well.”