The Tale Behind Paes-Bhupathi’s Unique Chest Bump Celebration

India became a cricket-loving country during the 90s and a huge number of people started following their fevourite cricketers. Not only the cricket lovers followed their icon players’ styles off the ground but also on the field.

There will be a lot of instances like Sourav Ganguly’s shirt removal style, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh’s Bhangda celebration style, MS Dhoni’s hairstyle, etc. Actuaclly, it’s not just about cricket… Hockey star Sandeep Singh’s hand-raising style, and Bazil footballer Ronaldo’s celebration style are also fans’ favourites.

But there is another on-the-field celebration, known as India’s legendary Tennis duo Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi chest-bumping celebration, which is still a benchmark style of every male best friend.

It is the celebration when two players collide into each other’s chest while jumping in mid-air.

As the duo was fondly called, was on top of their game in the late 1990s till the early 2000s when they formed a formidable pair on the international circuit.

The 1999 season was the highlight for Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi as they reached the finals of all four Majors, winning the French Open and Wimbledon.

“You know, I really don’t remember when we did it for the first time,” admitted Mahesh Bhupathi when quizzed about it in a recent interview on the Wimbledon Facebook page.

They had also opened up about their chest bump celebrations, in the upcoming documentary series ‘Break Point’.

“It helped in getting some adrenaline going. You know, I had to get this guy fired up. To get him going,” Leander Paes explained.

“When he’s playing in his gear, like the fourth gear, the fifth gear, when he’s in good control, we generally win. For me, I could raise my level at any given point.

“At the beginning of any tournament, he’d be solid, so I needed to get up. Then towards the semis and the final when those opponents were playing in great form, We needed some energy as well.”

But with Mahesh Bhupathi towering at 6’1” in as compared to the 5’10” of his partner, it would always be a challenge for the Olympic medallist in Leander Paes to get it right.

In fact, the bronze medallist from Atlanta in 1996 remembers his coaches warning him about a possible injury too.

But the Indian tennis pair needed a little something to get things going on the court, and it’s why the chest bump celebration came into play. It was a unique way to raise their game as the duo went on to become the world’s No. 1 doubles team.