Tennis: Mahesh Bhupathi bids farewell to Olympics

Mahesh Bhupathi will not play in the Olympics again. He made this statement after his miserable performance, along with his handpicked partner Rohan Bopanna, in the 2^nd round of the London Games. It was the second time in a month that this team lost poorly at Wimbledon. The first was at the All England Championships.

While making the exit statement, Bhupathi was still assuming the selector’s role. He said he would be on the stands rooting for Bopanna, his partner, at the next Olympiad. That means Bopanna is already in the Indian tennis team for the 2016 Olympics. I suppose Bhupathi will announce the second player in due course.

Normally, the team selection should be the responsibility of the All India Tennis Federation (AITF). But Bhupathi and a couple of politicians made this organization ineffectual and really a laughing stock. As a result, instead of the potential medal winning combination of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, which AITF originally chose, India ended up sending what could be possibly its third-string team for the Olympic laurels. I am making this statement after watching Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan play so brilliantly against the 2^nd seeded French pair of Tsonga and Llorda yesterday.

The tampering with team selection was not in the nation’s interest. It was purely personal. What problem exists between Bhupathi and Paes is not known. But that should have been sidelined in the best interest of the country. Paes was willing to play with Bhupathi or anyone else. But the latter decided to play only with Bopanna. And he had his way, which led to an inglorious exit.

There were reports about Bhupathi protesting against Leander being chosen to partner Sania Mirza at the Dhoha Asian Games in 2006. But that team won the Gold Medal. Though they have not played together for a long time, their performance yesterday against Zimonjic and Ivanovic of Serbia was almost mixed doubles tennis at its best.

We don’t know who is behind the problem, but it is said there have been moves against Paes once he reached an enviable stature in world tennis that he still maintains and also when he became the Captain of the Indian Davis Cup team. Even a non-national who was imported to play for India in Davis Cup (he was packed off after a while) seemed to have been against Paes.

Maybe there is something wrong with this Indian hero with regard to interpersonal relations. But if that were so, it would have been unlikely for him to have gained the eminence he enjoys in world tennis. It seems that Paes has partnered 67 players in men’s doubles. This can mean two things. One is that he cannot get on with his partners. The other is that he can adjust his game to that of different partners and keep on winning laurels.

Let me conclude with quoting Vishnu Vardhan’s statement after  his remarkable performance yesterday against the French (as reported by The Hindu). “Leander is a huge inspiration for me… I am happy and fortunate that I play in the era of Leander.”

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Related post:

Tennis: Leander Paes, the Indian Hero

The Great Indian Tennis Mess

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) genuinely desired scenes like the one depicted below at the London Olympic Games.

(Photo from Wikimedia Commons. Click to enlarge.)

The original decision was to field only one men’s doubles team consisting of Paes and Bhupathi, ranked 7 and 14 respectively. Perhaps it would have been better to have Bopanna (ranked 12) partner Paes. They have played together in the Davis Cup.

But arrogant, well-connected players and politicians who should be having better things to do forced the AITA to keep on changing their decisions. Instead of taking a stand, the Association succumbed. Bopanna and Bhupathi would team up. Leander Paes, India’s No.1 is to play with 207 ranked Vishnu Vardhan.

The poor selectors of AITA did not know that their job had been done several months ago by Bhupathi and Bopanna. According statements of those players, they had decided to represent India at 2012 Olympics and had put in a lot of effort. Neither of them could qualify individually is another matter. Both refused to partner Paes, the only Indian to individually qualify. They defied the AITA selection, and politicians got into the act.

The Association said sending Leander to the Olympics partnering a youngster without Grand Slam experience was meaningless. Paes also said that he would play with a lower ranked player only if Bhupathi and Bopanna refused to partner him and opted out of the Olympics. But AITA had to do a summersault. The revolting players won. The word ‘discipline’ is not in the dictionary for some.

Bhupathi, even with 12 Grand Slams in his pocket, does not have the iconic stature of Leander Paes in Indian tennis. The performance of Paes has been outstanding in both ATP and Davis Cup in which he holds the ‘world record of third highest all time matches’ (quote from AITA President).

Why can’t Bhupathi forget whatever problems he has with his former partner and play with him once again for India to win a Gold Medal at the London Olympics? That would have meant two medals for Leander (he had won a bronze at the Atlanta Olympics) against Bhupathi’s one.

Incidentally, the current ATP ranking the top three players is:

           Paes. Rank 7, points 6,245 from 19 tournaments

           Bopanna. Rank 13, points 4,405 from 27 tournaments

           Bhupathi. Rank 15, points 4,330 from 24 tournaments. 

Bopanna and Bhupathi have slipped down one point each from their rankings on the Olympics qualification cut off date. But what do all these mean in Indian Tennis.

According to The Hindu (Cochin ed. June 22) the President of the AITA says that the Association agrees that the present decision is unfair to India’s No.1 and World No.7 player and that Leander Paes has been driven to the wall. The President also praises the ‘most patriotic’ Leander's selfless service to Indian tennis for 25 years.

I suggest that Leander Paes should frame the above mentioned statement in gold and keep it among his souvenirs.

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