It was heartening to see photos of tennis legend Leander Paes meeting Mansukh Mandaviya, the Sports Minister, in New Delhi on Thursday. Holding the ‘Hall Of Fame’ trophy presented to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bronze medallist recently, memories came flooding back of what all Paes had achieved in his career in singles and doubles. At the same time, a cryptic post from Sumit Nagal on X (Twitter), caught the eye. It read: “Maybe it’s time to get players in the front row as well.” The reference was to a photo posted from Stockholm, Sweden, where India will be taking on Sweden in a Davis Cup tie. It’s clear from the photo that officials of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) are at the front and players hidden at the back. Nagal opted out of the Cup tie as he has a sore back and said he has to “listen to his body.” Fair enough, since he has played non-stop tennis in 2024 and the attempt to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics saw him play more tournaments than usual.
The story of Indian tennis over the decades is how the AITA has cared two hoots for the sport and whatever results are achieved, sporadically, are due to individual efforts. Rewind to the times of even Vijay Amritraj, Ramesh Krishnan and Paes – what they achieved was through their own toil. The AITA did nothing. At that time, people blamed the men in charge of the AITA, the late RK Khanna and, later, his son, Anil Khanna. It was also during this period that super stars like Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna made it big.
Anyone who follows tennis politics will vouch that even though the regime has changed, the current AITA office-bearers – Anil Jain and Anil Dhupar – have done little for tennis. What is more galling is that the AITA continues to persist with Rohit Rajpal as non-playing Davis Cup captain. What are his tennis credentials in front of a Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi or Bopanna? Zero. Paes was Davis Cup playing captain at one point of time, Bhupathi was non-playing captain for a few years and then thrown out.
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And in September 2023, when Bopanna retired from Davis Cup, he said openly he was ready to take up the non-playing captain or mentorship role. None reached out to him and he plotted his own journey vis a vis qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics. What’s more, Bopanna himself assessed who would be the right partner for him at the Olympics and chose Sriram Balaji. Of course, it left Yuki Bhambri unhappy. Even at that time, the AITA made Bopanna wait very long before deciding that Balaji would be his partner.
Bopanna is not a case in isolation. The AITA never thought fit to ask Sania Mirza if she was willing to help Indian tennis in the Fed Cup. As an analyst and respected commentator, Sania’s knowledge is rich. Obviously, the AITA likes its own cronies and does not want well-meaning people on board. Imagine, if Indian tennis could have Paes, Sania, Bopanna and Bhupathi on board to advise/guide, would there not be a change? The AITA has never been pro-players, they have looked at them with suspicion. It’s bizarre that someone with poor pedigree like Rajpal is non-playing captain, and now there is a new coach – Ashutosh Singh has replaced Zeeshan Ali. For the record, if you Google the name of Ashutosh, he has never played Davis Cup. To pick him ahead of many more coaches with better credentials is shocking.
Who cares? Certainly not the AITA. It is no secret, given the AITA’s anti-player approach, that Bhambri and Nagal have said no to the Davis Cup. In the good old days, there used to be so much pride when players craved to play the Davis Cup. As far as tennis development in India goes, the AITA has done zilch. It is one of the worst-run national sports federations. Grooming players is not their job. Post Paris, there has not been even a murmur from the AITA on poor performance.
At a time when India celebrates the success of its Paralympic athletes, it must be mentioned that India’s wheelchair tennis players were not there for the Paralympics. This is sheer apathy, as the AITA has not bothered about wheelchair tennis at home. Indian tennis needs serious intervention. And if it has to come from the office of the Sports Minister. If champions like Paes, Sania and Bopanna are roped in, it would be brilliant. For the record, Sania’s father, Imran Mirza, told this writer last week: “Who even cares if Sania wants to help Indian tennis? Nobody ever reached out to us.”
For the record, Bopanna holds tennis-doubles camps in Bengaluru and funds them. It is a regular feature. If Indian tennis has to rise from depths of despair, the Sports Ministry must play a proactive role.
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