Dubai: Doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna has announced his availability for the Indian squad as they prepare for their crucial Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan in the first half of next month.
Despite being the top-ranked doubles player, Bopanna was dropped by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) from the national squad in India’s 4-1 win against New Zealand in their Asia Oceania Group 1 Davis Cup encounter held in Pune in the first week of February.
The India squad consisted of Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Yuki Bhambri, Leander Paes and Prajnesh Gunneswaran.
The selection committee consisting of Chairman SP Misra along with members Balram Singh, Nandan Bal, Rohit Rajpal, coach Zeeshan Ali and Hironmoy Chatterjee decided that Bopanna should not be included reportedly because the player had pulled out of the World Group Play-off tie against Spain in September last year, feigning injury.
At No. 24, Bopanna is currently ranked higher than Paes who is at No. 62 on the official ATP World Tour Rankings. But the 43-year-old Paes was preferred to Bopanna, allegedly due to him feigning the injury last year.
After last month’s emphatic 4-1 win at home against New Zealand — with India losing only the doubles — Bopanna has staked for a place in the squad once again. “I am available for selection,” the 37-year-old Bengaluru boy told Gulf News after easing into the doubles final along with stand-in partner Marcin Matkowski at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Friday.
“If they pick me, I’m there. If they don’t then there is nothing I can do about it. Next week will be the announcement of the team as they had said the week of March 6 they would be announcing the squad. We will know soon,” he added.
In the meantime, things have changed in Indian tennis with non-playing captain Anand Amritraj not given an extension on his term. Former doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi is now the replacement for Amritraj when India faces Uzbekistan in their Asia-Oceania Group 1 second round tie in Bengaluru from April 7-9.
“I was still available for selection for the tie against New Zealand,” Bopanna clarified.
“They [the AITA selection committee] are the ones who dropped me. It’s not that I said ‘No’ to playing for my country. In fact, they called me and I said ‘Please send me an official letter and I will be there’. However, nothing came from them. If you don’t get something official then I think anyone will commit, and that’s how it works,” he added.
India has been competing in the Davis Cup since 1921, and the closest the country has come is ending runners-up on three occasions — 1966, 1974 and 1987. In 1974, the final was scratched and South Africa were awarded the Davis Cup after India refused to participate in the final due to the South African government’s apartheid policies. India were the strong favourites to win with the Amritraj brothers, Vijay and Anand at their peak.
