'Max never spoke on court'

MUMBAI: Mahesh Bhupathi walked theramp during a fashion show in the city on Friday. Where flaunting the cut of hisstrokes is concerned, the doubles stalwart will team up with Aussie great ToddWoodbridge next season. ToI caught up with India''s first Grand Slam winner onSaturday to talk about his partners and why breaking up is hard to do in tennisas well. Excerpts. Yes. There isuncertainty on how the new partnership is going to work out. You don''t know howyou or your partner is going to adapt to the new equation.Leander (Paes) and me thought wewill give it another run in 2005. I informed Max about that at the US Open. ThenLeander had second thoughts, by which time Max had committed to Jonas Bjorkman.All partners aredifferent. Jonas Bjorkman is a bit older than me and I let him guide play. Maxwas a guy who liked to stay in his room and play his guitar. Now I am going tobe playing with Todd Woodbridge. Todd likes to talk on court, he analyses everypoint. That will take some getting used to because Max never spoke.It''s tough to make friendships on thetour. I wouldn''t send Max a Christmas gift, for example. On saying that, thereare people with whom I get along and have fun with. Todd and me have had manydinners together. So have me and Jonas. Don Johnson is another guy who I couldcall a friend. Leander always handled pressurewell. Growing up, I learnt from watching the Woodies (Woodbridge and MarkWoodforde). They rarely tried anything fancy and concentrated on playing theright shot. I learnt much from (coach) Bob Carmichael, of course. But forexceptions, I feel a partner is someone you complement and not learn from.Chemistry. You want someone who can adapt tosituations well and can handle pressure.The Bryan brothers. They have their weaknesses, but beingtwins they complement each other. Moreover, they have extraordinary energy andchemistry. Quite well. The company is two years old andapart from sports events, we have also made inroads into Bollywood. We signed upSaif Ali Khan recently and will be handling his endorsements and PR. It''sexciting. The film industry is an unprofessional set-up that''s looking to getprofessional.