Davis Cup: Playing with Rohan Bopanna was fun, says Leander Paes

New Delhi: Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna's dominant 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 Davis Cup win over South Koreans Hong Chung and Seong Chan Hong at the Chandigarh Club over the weekend was the perfect soothing balm over the fresh wounds that opened up once again after Team India's Olympic tennis selection fiasco recently.

Leander Paes celebrates with teammate Rohan Bopanna during the Asia/Oceania Group I Davis Cup doubles match in Chandigarh on Saturday. Pic/PTI

Both Paes and Bopanna have come away as healed patients, ready to take on the tough challenges that will be thrown to them at next month's Rio Olympics.

Super chemistry
A day after Bopanna admitted that the chemistry between the pair was impressive, Paes stressed on the fun factor that accompanied their 100-minute victory. "Playing with Rohan was fun and we conjured up a good, dominant win - the scoreboard shows it. So it's great to see that we still have it in us to do well," Paes told mid-day yesterday.

Paes hailed the All India Tennis Association (AITA) selection committee's decision of bringing together the pair for this Davis Cup engagement. "It was a great idea by the selection committee to bring us in for this Davis Cup tie and we are glad to deliver the goods for India," added Paes.

Keeping Rio in mind, Bopanna-Paes put in the hard yards on the sidelines of the Davis Cup tie.

"We practised a lot of games and particularly tie-breaks with Saketh (Myneni) and Vishnu (Vardhan) - both are big servers and that will help us negotiate key points in big matches at Rio.

There will be some big-servers and big individual players at Rio besides of course teams like Roger Federer-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland), who are Olympic gold medallists already.

"It won't be easy for us, but the first two rounds in Rio will determine our rhythm and eventual outcome. Let's hope we can continue this chemistry in Rio," Paes signed off.