India convincingly won their Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan in the Asia Oceania Group I Round 2 rubber with two debutants making winning debuts. It was a moment of glory for Prajnesh Gunneswaran and N Sriram Balaji but sadly an ugly off-court public spat between senior statesmen of Indian tennis, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, has taken the sheen off the memorable win by the youngsters, especially in the absence of country’s top singles specialist Yuki Bhambri. Once arguably the best doubles pair in the world, the two have been constantly at loggerheads since their bitter split.
The latest run-in, perhaps the most damaging yet which could possibly end Paes’ Davis Cup career, was sparked by his accusation that Bhupathi, India’s new non-playing captain, was biased against him and deliberately didn’t include him in the final four. Bhupathi was asked to comment on the charge on Day 2 of the tie but preferred to stay mum. However on Sunday, with the tie done and dusted, he finally broke his silence. When confronted by some uncomfortable questions he let the steam off, sharing with the media screenshots of his WhatsApp conversations with Paes, which clearly showed that Paes had confirmed he would be happy to join the team if he was included in the six man squad, with the final four to be decided before the draw. Bhupathi might have done this with no malice but it sets a dangerous precedent. After all, WhatsApp is a messaging app which protects the privacy of its users with end-to-end encryption. Not even is it bad social media etiquette, it’s immoral to say the least.
Indian tennis is used to seeing Bhupathi and Paes washing their dirty linen in public, but this is lowest of the low it can get. And these are the two greatest players India has produced in the sport; the icons Prajnesh and Balaji look up to. Paes’ stinging criticism might have rattled Bhupathi and he needed to put his case straight. But this careless act will invariably create a trust deficit in the team and the youngsters will think twice before having the most casual team-related chat with their India mates or the captain.
Ironically, Bhupathi was picked to succeed Anand Amritraj, who despite decent results had to leave due to his inability to enforce discipline. Bhupathi now says it’s not his “job to discipline anybody”. Bhupathi’s approach of focussing on the singles in Davis Cup is a prudent one. He has passed the first test by taking India to the World Group playoffs. But it also means it’s the end of the road for Paes in Davis Cup, an unhappy end to an era that took Indian tennis to its greatest heights.
