Strange movement by Indian Tennis players

Shocking! Utterly shocking! Indian tennis players have threatened the All India Tennis Association (AITA) to boycott the Davis Cup tie which will be played in Delhi between 1st and 3rd February 2013. Eight players – Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna, Sanam Singh, Vishnu Vardhan, Yuki Bhambri, Divij Sharan, Saketh Myneni and Mahesh Bhupathi – issued a joint statement to AITA to place their demands. It is quite interesting to notice that most of these players are managed by a sports management company run by Mahesh Bhupathi, and many argue that some of the demands are made to sideline Leander. In the joint statement, the players placed the following demands:

i) Revised agreement in distribution of prize money.

ii) Revamp in the support staff.

iii) Say in decision making (venue selection etc.)

The first demand is justified. Players can always demand more remuneration from the part of the prize money. The AITA has already given its consent to give 70% of the prize money to the players which will be earned from the home ties. Initially it was 50:50 between the AITA and the players. For away ties, the entire prize money will be given to the players.

The third demand is confusing! In cricket in India, BCCI decides the venue of an international match as per the ‘rotation policy’ and the readiness of the venue is decided by a technical committee. In Indian football, venue is decided by the All India Football Federation and the state associations. Players and the coaches can certainly express their views, but are not allowed to take final decision on the venues. Now, the tennis stars (and the rising stars) of India want to play the role of the administrators in order to decide the venue as per their wish! Can they assure wins in all home ties if the venues are selected by them? No, nobody can! It is advisable to concentrate on their game and make us proud with some wins instead of focusing on deciding venues!

The second demand is even more complicated. Let us investigate why! The players want to revamp the supporting staff as per their wish. Their motive was to replace the Head Coach Nadan Bal, Captain S.P. Misra and team doctor Vece Paes. AITA has already replaced Nandan Bal and Dr. Vece Paes. Zeeshan Ali will replace Nandan Bal. S.P.Misra will continue till the tie against South Korea and he will be replaced after that. What a pity! It seems that these players want to play the role of the selectors as well. They can always express their opinion on the coach or the supporting staff, but cannot threaten the parent body to withdraw if the coach and the staff are not changed. In cricket, the opinion of the captain plays a crucial role in selecting the coach, but the ultimate selection is made by the selection committee. It seems that these tennis stars, unfortunately, have no respect for the emotions of their countrymen. We rejoiced when Leander won many impossible matches in the Davis Cup. We want to see the same triumphs in future as well, but, perhaps, the players are more interested in ‘blackmailing’ AITA in order to fulfill their own commercial and other interests.

The same incident took place before the 2012 Olympics Games when Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna refused to play with Leander in Doubles. Bhupathi and Bopanna dominated AITA and forced Leander to play with an inexperienced Vishnu Vardhan. We failed to win any medal in men’s doubles! Who is answerable for that? Mahesh and Bopanna, will you please give a reply to your countrymen who were expecting a medal in men’s doubles? The incident was highly criticized by the media and tennis lovers of the country, but it was just the beginning. We are observing its extension now!

AITA has decided to prepare a code for the players and those who will sign in it will be considered to participate in the Davis Cup. I have a strong doubt as to whether this will solve the current crisis of Indian tennis. In my opinion, there are two feasible options- i) to take drastic steps against these players and set an example to others or ii) to make the leader of these players the President of AITA. Only two solutions are available. Let’s see what AITA will do!