Mahesh Bhupathi is already gearing up for his first assignment as India’s non-playing Davis Cup captain – the Asia/Oceania group one second-round tie against Uzbekistan from April 7-9 in Bengaluru.
The veteran tennis player, who has taken over captaincy from Anand Amritraj, is reportedly asking the India team members to undergo fitness tests before participating in the clash.
“Fitness is the No 1 issue that Indian tennis faces,” Bhupathi was quoted as saying by the Times of India. “Playing five sets, handling Davis Cup pressures, all contribute to the situation. It’s not an easy ask, but we have to be prepared and I want to know,” the former Davis Cup player said. “That’s why I’ve asked for the tests to be done, to figure out what is missing and accordingly I can decide whether or not someone can play a fifth rubber. I want to be aware.”
The reason behind having fitness tests to gauge the physical level of each player is simple enough. But there must be far deeper issues in his mind, one of them being the series of selection debacles ahead of India’s first Davis Cup tie this year, against New Zealand in February at Pune.
Saketh Myneni, who was due to play doubles with Leander Paes, had to pull out of the tie at the eleventh hour because of an sustained during practice. Vishnu Vardhan was then called up as the last-minute replacement. Paes and Vardhan lost the doubles match, leaving the veteran hanging for his world record of 43 Davis Cup doubles wins.
Additionally, there was controversy over the selection as the experienced Rohan Bopanna was left out – supposedly as a result of him missing the previous tie against Spain because injury. India’s top-ranked men’s doubles player wasn’t called up as a replacement either. Furthermore, there were only five players in the team, as opposed to the standard six. And then there was the mess over Sumit Nagal’s alleged indiscipline, which led to more bad blood between India’s tennis players and the AITA.
With the kind of tensions in Indian tennis right now, Bhupathi’s first outing will be under a lot of scrutiny. However, he asserts that he is on the same page as the players. I’m in touch with the players. I know where they are playing, how they’re playing. I’m in touch with them once every 48 hours almost,” he told the Times of India.
With the experience of Bhupathi in the middle, the Indian tennis fans will hope that both and on and off court problems can be sorted. But we will only know the result of this change in policy after Denis Istomin and Co visit in April.
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