The leading Indian Tennis pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had announced their parting early November. And the result was apparent as they crashed out of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals doubles event, losing their semifinal match to Polish pair Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the super tie-break, on November 26 at London.

While claiming that they have no fall-out between them, Bhupathi was a bit nostalgic in his interview with media. "I guess everyone has their own opinion. Leander just felt that we were possibly a little too old on the tour and not able to gel on a consistent basis. He felt that our team needed fresh legs on either side. That was his point of view," Bhupathi told CNN-IBN. Earlier Paes and Bhupathi had announced that they would be splitting at the end of this season and would not compete together in the Chennai Open early next year.

Paes-Bhupathi had joined hands at the start of the year after a gap of almost nine years, in their bid to win the Australian Open, the lone Grand Slam they have not won in their doubles career. They got back also keeping in sight the 2012 London Olympics. But the things changed and they are upto splits, in sports only. So at the Olympics they will be seen in action with different partners. Paes is likely to team up with Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek while Bhupathi will play with compatriot Rohan Bopanna, who has parted with long-time partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan.

Meanwhile Sania Mirza is keen to pair up with Mahesh Bhupathi for next year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open. “It is a possibility that Mahesh and I may play together. We had spoken initially about the US Open (2011) but I will be speaking to him about the Australian Open now. We will be meeting up at a tennis camp in Mumbai in a few days time and I will be talking to him there,” said Sania, who is in Delhi taking part in a Fed Cup camp at the DLTA.