Davis Cup: Bopanna dropped, Hesh is non-playing captain

New Delhi: It was a day of changes in Indian tennis, as the All India Tennis Association named Mahesh Bhupathi as the new non-playing captain while Rohan Bopanna was dropped from the Davis Cup squad against New Zealand.

Veteran Bhupathi, who last competed in the Davis Cup in 2011, will take charge of the side after their Asia/Oceania zone Group I tie against New Zealand in Pune from February 3 to 5.

This will be Anand Amritraj’s last tie as non-playing captain as Aita wants to give him a “farewell”.

Meanwhile, two-time Olympian Bopanna was dropped from the squad.

Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni were the preferred choice of the selectors, for their good show against Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez in the previous Davis Cup tie against Spain.

While Bopanna’s world ranking is 28, Paes is currently 59 and Myneni is 210 in the ATP doubles ranking list.

“Picking Rohan blocks a place for a third singles player that we wanted to have in the squad. Also Leander and Saketh were brilliant against Spain.

“But whenever Leander and Rohan have played together, they have not done well. Take Czech Republic tie as an example,” national selector S.P. Misra said here.

“The other factor being Rohan being an ad court player. Even Saketh is an ad court player while Leander prefers deuce court (right side of the court). If we pick Rohan and Saketh, then we have two ad court players. Even Rohan and Saketh have not done well as a pair,” he added.

He, however, informed that Rohan had informed the committee that about his availability for this tie.

Speaking about Bhupathi’s elevation as the non-playing captain replacing Amritraj, Aita secretary general Hiranmoy Chatterjee said, “Everybody should get a chance to be the captain. No post stays with one person forever. I personally spoke to Mahesh and asked if he is available, he said ‘Yes’. That was it. Also we wanted Anand to be given a farewell tie.”

Asked if Amritraj was happy with the decision, Chatterjee said, “No one wants to go. But everyone deserves a chance to be the captain.”

The players had rallied around Amritraj but the association did not consider it worthwhile consulting them before the decision was taken. Chatterjee added, “It is not their prerogative. We don’t need to consult the players. Even Leander Paes was not consulted.”

Asked about the history of strained relationship between Paes and Bhupathi and whether the latter’s elevation would prove to be end of the road for the former, Chatterjee said, “We will cross that bridge when it comes.”

On whether Amritraj was giving leeway to players as far as discipline was concerned was an issue along with his views in the media, the Aita top official did not deny.

“When a committee meets, we discuss a lot of things. But let me tell you that we did not receive any letter of support from the players,” he asserted.

Amritraj, however, expressed disappointment over the decision and believed that Bhupathi might have a tough time as the captain. “I had requested them for one more year, after which I would have stepped down from the captaincy voluntarily if they wanted me to.”