NEW DELHI: Barely a month after deciding not to play for India, Mahesh Bhupathi has now made himself available for national duty again, saying that his burning desire to play for the country forced him to change his mind.
Bhupathi said he took the decision not to play for India out of utter frustration owing to several reasons, not being paired with Sania Mirza for the mixed doubles event in the Doha Asian Games being one of them.
"I have always wanted to play for India. It (the decision not to play for the country) was just out of frustration," Bhupahti said on Friday.
The multiple Grand Slam winner had created flutter last month by announcing that he would not play for India again, a decision which took his former doubles partner Leander Paes and top tennis officials by surprise.
"I am not playing. I had a person-to-person chat with Anil Khanna (Secretary General of the All India Tennis Association) when he was in Mumbai. I think they respect my decision," he had said.
"It was due to a bunch of factors. I made the decision based on all circumstances around me," he had said.
Among the factors he listed were his ambition to win the Australian Open and the feeling that the Davis Cup team could manage without him in the zonal ties.
Both these, however, were tied to the third but most important factor - his inability to renew his partnership with Paes on the ATP Tour.
"I spoke to Leander during the ATP event (in Mumbai) and he said that after winning the US Open with Damm, it would be difficult for him to break that pairing. Maybe if they had not won the US Open, things might have been different. But fortunately or unfortunately, they won," he had said.
