New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS): Infrastructure for tennis should be made more accessible to the public in India, said former player and former Indian Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi.

The 12-time Grand Slam winner said that tennis is a sport that needs facilities and being a member of a club is not something that everyone in the country can afford.

"In London, for example, you can pay four pounds and play tennis for one hour," said the 46-year-old while talking on the Instagram show 'In the Sportlight'.

"That is where we struggle. In sports like cricket or football, you don't need much facilities to play but in other sports like tennis, table tennis or badminton, you need to be a member of a club which is challenging and that's why numbers don't work in India."

Bhupathi also spoke about the importance of mental training for athletes, something he said was not talked about too often during his playing career.

"Mental training is a very important aspect of becoming a professional athlete. When I was growing up, there wasn't enough talk about it, also enough avenues weren't there to explore that. But today every athlete explores that area," said Bhupathi.