Sania and Bopanna hit back at 'toxic person' Leander Paes on Twitter

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

"There were no more tournaments to win, I could not create anymore tournaments. Sad. Long story short, let's nurture these kids," Paes said after the recently ended Davis Cup match in Delhi.

The Indian mixed doubles pair lost in the bronze-medal match, while the Indian men's doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes was knocked out in the very first round.

Mirza and Bopanna took to Twitter to respond to Paes' sharp remarks as mud-slinging continues in Indian tennis.

However, this was not the first time the three have been embroiled in such a controversy. In the 2012 Olympics, Sania Mirza was forced to team up with Paes in the mixed doubles event as a compromise after both Mahesh Bhupati and Rohan Bopanna refused to play with him in the men's doubles event and chose to play together instead. However, Sania got the chance to pick her partner in this Olympics, and she chose Bopanna.

Leander Paes was in the eye of a storm in the build-up to the Rio Games. Initially, Rohan Bopanna had preferred Saketh Myneni as his partner ahead of the announcement, but some last-minute manoeuvring by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) saw Leander announced as the partner.

In the build-up to the Games, media reports had alleged that the veteran tennis star refused to share the room with Rohan Bopanna in the games village. This snowballed into a big debacle when Paes arrived late at the Olympics Village until which time Bopanna had to practice with other players.