Caught in the ego maelstrom

Indian tennis has a bright future ahead of it. Because, it simply can’t plummet any further. As embarrassing as the abject 0-4 surrender to Sweden in the Davis Cup World Group I play-off was, the open feud between the All India Tennis Association and the players and the team management is no less shameful. The discontent between the players and the AITA , or even the ego clashes between players, isn’t new but rarely has there been a situation when top guns have refused to represent the country, especially in Davis Cup. How did it all come to this?

Indian tennis and Davis Cup don’t stir the emotions quite like Indian hockey and Olympics. There’s, however, no denying India’s exceptional exploits in tennis’ only meaningful team event where they have been three-time finalists. Though their last final appearance was in 1987 when they ran into a much superior Sweden - boasting multiple Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander and Anders Jarryd, who was once ranked No. 5 - India always had its moments to crow about thanks to the doubles combo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. Such moments increasingly became sporadic post their retirements and Davis Cup evokes little or no interest these days with the outcome in the World Group I all but known.

While the top players (Sumit Nagal, Yuki Bhambri and Sasikumar Mukund) giving a skip doesn’t help the cause, the AITA should have strived more to convince -- even if it means rewarding them monetarily -- them to take time out for Davis Cup. Sumit Nagal demanding $50,000 may appear a bit unreasonable but it’s basically the trust deficit between players and the association that takes the situation to a point of no return. India have been playing just two Davis Cup ties in a season for a while now and Nagal could have been taken into confidence to negotiate the fee but disclosing what necessarily was a confidential discussion. If anything it has further queered the pitch.

“This is not about personal gain. My discussions with AITA and the Davis Cup captain (Rohit Rajpal) are confidential and I would not like to indulge in any speculation about this,” he wrote in a statement on social media after the controversy broke out.

At 27, Nagal, who once declared he just had a couple of hundred dollars left with him to spend, doesn’t have many years left in his professional singles career. This year, India’s No. 1 singles player entered the main draw of all four Slams and barring the Australian Open, where he won a match, he exited in the first rounds of remaining three. Yet, he ended up making nearly Rs 2.5 crore! The catch is he needs to remain in the top-100 to get direct entry into every Grand Slam where the big money is and it’s natural that he would do everything in his hand to ensure he makes the main draws. And staying fit is just one of them.

“In professional sports, injury management is a complex science. Sometimes, just a few days of rest and targeted rehabilitation can make the difference between aggravating an injury and being fit to play again,” Nagal wrote.

“It was a difficult decision to withdraw from the Davis Cup... However, after consulting with my medical team, it became clear that competing while carrying an injury could not only jeopardize my health but also adversely impact the team’s chances.

“I believe it is better for the team and for the country to have someone at 100 percent rather than risking further injury and potentially disrupting the match. I had informed AITA well in advance about my inability to participate,” Nagal wrote in his defence.

That said, Nagal’s moves haven’t been above suspicion. He withdrew from the Hangzhou Open, which was immediately after India’s Davis Cup tie, only after AITA criticised him for deliberately skipping Davis Cup citing back injury.

This is where the rapport between the association and the player plays a key role. You can’t refuse to nominate a player for a Grand Slam wild card (AITA didn’t nominate Nagal for Australian Open wild card) and still expect him to fall in line.

“It’s all in the open, isn’t it,? “ said an AITA official when asked about the AITA-player feud. “Whatever is there in the media, that’s not far from the truth. I am not saying X right and Y is wrong; somewhere along the line everyone has contributed to the problem. Call it ego or whatever... All the stakeholders need to find a common platform, sit and sort this out for the good of Indian tennis. Of course, you would expect the association to take the lead but players too need to come to the table,” said the official who didn’t want to be named.

The AITA is going for elections on 28th of this month when its Annual General Meeting will be held. The new office bearers, it’s hoped, could bring in a new hope.