Indian tennis icon Leander Paes is back with his partner-on-court Mahesh Bhupathi, not to play for India but to share the story of “brotherhood”, success, and then the “Breakpoint”. It “was very courageous to tell the story true to its life,” says the 48-year-old, who along with Mahesh Bhupathi set the path clear for the Next Gen tennis champions from India. 

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In ‘Breakpoint’, ZEE5 docu-series, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have opened up on their struggles and their much talked about break-up.

“I think it’s very important to tell the story on how two young Indian boys became champions and in that on how there was no manual to teach us how to win Wimbledon but yet we were able to and also not just telling how champions are made but also depicting how champions are vulnerable because we are all human beings,” he added.

This “brotherhood” between the two champions, who were the first doubles team from the country to win at Wimbledon in 1999, is what the two legends have revisited through ZEE5’s non-fiction series that will premiere on October 1.

It is directed by filmmaker couple Nitesh Tiwari and Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari.

Leander says that he respects the whole ‘Breakpoint’ team for giving him and Mahesh the opportunity and believing in their story.

“They allowed us to tell it (story) real truthfully. They were not scared about pitfalls or about telling the mistakes. We have not sugar-coated this or we have not put candy floss around. We have  told our story very real and to me, that’s what makes ‘Breakpoint’ really beautiful,” Paes said.

Leander and Mahesh were once called the poster boys for the sport in the country. The two played together from 1994 to 2006 and reunited for their second stint from 2008 to 2011. Besides the Wimbledon championship that they won in 1999, Paes and Bhupathi also won two French Open titles in 1999 and 2001.

When asked if they feel that viewers will start taking sides once the show airs, Leander says that “that’s the beauty in the way Ashwini and Nitish Tiwari have told this story. It’s not about Leander being right or Mahesh being wrong or Mahesh being right and Leander being wrong.”

“We have not taken any actors in this. if you see we all have played our roles and given different perspectives to many different stories in these episodes so in that, we were both right in certain ways and we were both wrong in certain ways and that’s the beauty when you tell the story true, you are willing to accept the responsibility of what you both have done.”

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He says that what is unique about the show is not how they broke up but how they achieved success.

“What is unique is how this brotherhood stood the test of time. We have seen each other in the highest of highs and lowest of lows and still here telling you a story and that’s unique,” he said.

But do they feel that they could have done things differently?

“Think about it this way. There are no other people who have won Wimbledon as a team so we are India’s first Grand Slam winning team. We are also the first team to win Wimbledon from India. Also today we hold the world record of 24 undefeated Davis cup matches in a row so it’s your perspective. It’s how you ask that question. That’s how you look at it,” he said.

Leander also says that they waited for 20 years to tell their story.

“We were getting offers for doing a feature film on Leander and Mahesh for 20 years and we kept on saying no to it because it wasn’t right,” he said and added that he “simply bow my head on both Mahesh and my behalf and say thank you to everyone at ‘Breakpoint’ including the people behind the scene.”

“I like to say thank you to those guys. They put their sweat and blood into it and I am sure all the fans around the world and everybody who watches this docu-series are going to be inspired because of the hard work of the whole unit. We became one big family and we worked really hard for 18 months through a pandemic, through a global lockdown. We worked for you guys to give you what we think is a work of passion, a true story of how we became world champions and how we dealt with it and I think the fans are going to love it.”

Finally does Leander miss good times together with Mahesh?

“No we have the current times which are great too,” he sums up