Mirza, Bopanna and Paes feud over Rio selection

Sometimes it "paes" to stay quiet. Not everyone feels that way, as evidenced by the current trouble embroiling the Indian national team.

Leander Paes was the winner of four of the six major mixed-doubles titles with Martina Hingis between the 2015 Australian Open and 2016 French Open. He has captured 10 major titles in mixed doubles overall, as well as eight men's doubles Grand Slam championships.

Paes recently took public umbrage, timed during India's Davis Cup loss to the Rafael Nadal-led Spanish team, with the fact that Sania Mirza played Olympic mixed doubles in Rio de Janeiro in August not with him but with Rohan Bopanna.

"I can very clearly say that in this Olympics and last Olympics we didn't put the best team forward. This Olympics the mixed doubles was a great opportunity," Paes said in New Delhi. "What more does a man need to do than win four Grand Slams in 14 months?... Sad."

Mirza and Bopanna finished fourth in Rio, losing first to eventual silver medalists Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram, and then falling to Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek in the bronze-medal match.

Some observers in India believe Paes would be well advised to cease the war of words. For ESPN India, Gaurav Kalra calls it "a tiresome soap opera." Meanwhile, writing for First Post,Vikram Bohra describes the 43-year-old Paes as having earned his right to be "aggressive, undiplomatic, and snooty" over the years.

Mirza herself tweeted vaguely about this precise intra-squad conflict, as did Bopanna:

Mirza and Bopanna made sure to retweet each other's posts as well, in effect publicly piling on Paes. An overt star in her country and globally, Mirza herself has nearly 4.5 million Twitter followers.

It might do Paes well to avoid opining so critically on such a stage. It only tarnishes his otherwise splendid image in tennis history. There's no way around the fact that it must bring down the morale within the Indian tennis federation and among fans of its stars, and that's a shame.

It might also do the team well to have a family chat and find a way to mend their differences behind the scenes—offline.

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.