In Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi's stand-off, Indian tennis is the biggest loser

A couple of hard-hitting eventualities emerged from India’s win over Uzbekistan in their Asia/Oceania Group I second-round tie. One was the absoluteness of the tie’s result in India’s favour that had the hosts clinch the World Group Play-off spot right after the doubles rubber itself. The other, and the most detrimental one at that, was the renewing of hostilities between Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes.

Not only has their dispute taken Indian tennis back to the same bog from where it was trying to get out of. It has also presented a Paes vs Bhupathi scenario all over again, with everyone, right from the sport’s administrators in the country to the fans, and to their fellow players getting involved in this two-way uncompromising tussle. And, quite unwillingly at that.

A sickening sense of déjà vu

Now that the tie has been completed, and India will travel to Canada for the World Group Play-offs, the question that lingers is where does this leave the country’s tennis?

During the duration of their tie against Uzbekistan, the Indian team needed to present a unified front before their opponents to ensure that they did not expose any vulnerabilities that could be taken advantage of.

The team’s preparation did start off on that note contrary to varied predictions that Bhupathi and Paes would be up against each other. Right from the time the former was appointed as the captain, both seemed intent on putting the team’s needs over their personal past. However, the unexpected raking up of (alleged) vendetta and the mud-slinging back-and-forth that began on the eve of the tie, and proceeded to go steeply downhill from there on, didn’t justify the team’s needs being met entirely.

Showing intuitiveness and maturity, the players – specifically the debutants in Prajnesh Gunneswaran and N Sriram Balaji – did well to not get distracted by the stressful ambience that prevailed. Not only vis-à-vis the comments made by Paes before the start of the tie, but also by his abrupt leaving of the squad midway, before the doubles rubber on Saturday.

Off the court though, where psychological battles are – and have been – pivotally played between teams, this face-off between the nation’s most successful Davis Cup representatives will go on to linger sourly, and for a lengthy time.

Fortunately, it played out in India’s favour that the Uzbek contingent was largely preoccupied with its own set of problems, and was keen on getting through the tie without adding to the ailments of its players.

However, Cananda will look to exploit India’s distractions during the World Group Play-offs. Specifically, considering that it will be an away tie, with the team needing to band together more closely among themselves than how they would be, than when playing at home in their last four occasions.

The team comes first

In 2014, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka put aside personal differences and banded together to give Switzerland their first-ever Davis Cup title. The two have also, since then, gone back to being friends even as they have continued their rivalry with fervour on the Pro Tour. There’s then a pertinent leaf to be borrowed from the Swiss’ books by the Indians.

The Davis Cup transforms tennis, from being an entirely individual sport into a team-oriented one. It becomes a tournament where the participating country’s performance takes precedence over the player and all his achievements. As such, the players playing in the Davis Cup, too, come to be mere cogs in a comparatively bigger setup.

Nonetheless, invariably in India, as the Davis Cup nears in its scheduling, alongside the importance placed on the team composition, there’s also simultaneous occurrence of whataboutery. With the latter then painting the Indian Davis Cup picture quite contrarily among the other competing nations.

In the currently prevailing scenario, where the Davis Cup – right from how it’s conducted to the way it’s format – is being sought to be drastically reworked, it is significant to cherish its presence. At the same time, it’s also necessary to be mindful, and accepting, of the system that has been put into place for its current continuance.

It is, thus, beside the point as to who perceives what is right or feels apparently slighted by wrong decision-making. What matters the most is seeing the team through and about carrying the nation forward. Not only when there’s alignment of opinions. But, especially, when team spirit looks to be overwhelmed by personality clashes.