MELBOURNE – Indian doubles stars Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes Saturday shrugged off a furious on-court row after officials were forced to intervene to calm their seething opponents.
Bhupathi said the ugly row, which brought play to a halt on Court 2 as the players argued at the net, was “good for the game”, adding that the “crowd loved it”. Losing pair Juan Monaco and Feliciano Lopez were apparently so incensed over the Indians’ use of the Spanish word “vamos” (“let’s go”) that they started serving straight at them and refused to shake both players’ hands after the match.
“It was good for the game, I think. I mean, heat of the moment,” Bhupathi said. “It’s hot out there, we’re trying to beat each other. A few unnecessary things were said. We just got into each other. Tried to raise the atmosphere. “The crowd loved it. We got into it. Like you (journalist) said, interesting day for everyone.”
