Denouncing the way Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes publicly sparred over the selection of India’s team for their just-concluded Davis Cup tie over Uzbekistan, the All India Tennis Association on Monday said it expected the veteran players to behave in a mature manner, reported PTI.
Bhupathi, yesterday, made public his chat with Paes to counter accusations that he used his position to exclude him from the playing squad.
“We expect these senior pros to be more mature. The way they are going about it, we are not appreciating it. We have to talk to them and make sure they behave in a much more mature manner,” AITA Secretary General Hironmoy Chatterjee said.
Chatterjee said Paes should have avoided making comments on his exclusion during the tie, “Leander should not have spoken when the tie was on. Mahesh did the right thing by speaking after the tie was over,” Chatterjee added.
The senior AITA official said he has seen the WhatsApp chat between Paes and Bhupathi and there effort now is to bring them together and sort out the issues.
“I have also seen it and discussed it with Leander. I am going to sit and talk to both of them when I get time since they are both travelling. I do intend to bring them together. They will settle it out. They are mature people but the reactions they have given could have been much better,” he said.
Bhupathi, in his Facebook post, had mentioned that he has the backing of the establishment in implementing his ideas as he strives to get the team back to World Group. Chatterjee endorsed the non-playing captain’s view,
“Whatever he wants to do and whatever he has said, definitely he has been interacting with the Federation and there is no doubt about that. He has discussed everything with us. There are no issues with that,” he said.
After Bhupathi claimed that personal agenda was not behind Paes’ exclusion, the latter issued a statement that he was never categorically told that he will not be in the playing four and that’s what he found disrespectful.
The Bhupathi-Paes saga goes back to late 1990s and their acrimonious relationship has been a talking point in Indian tennis.
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