Dubai: UAE number one Omar Behroozian has urged Tennis Emirates, the sport's governing body in the country to adopt greater professionalism if the national squad are to ever make true progress in Davis Cup competition.
A dejected UAE squad returned from Sri Lanka this week following a miserable showing in the Asia/Oceania zone's Group III tournament which saw them relegated to Group IV of tennis' most prestigious team event only one year on from having got out of the bottommost rung.
"We need to be more organised and more professional [going forward]," Behroozian told XPRESS following the squad's return. "I don't want to be negative but it's a bit of a mess sometimes."
The bespectacled 29-year-old was strongly referring to the uncertainty surrounding the composition of the Sri Lankan bound squad only days before their departure.
"Our goal was to try and remain in Group III but what happened was not a big surprise," he said. "Just two weeks before the tournament we found out our number two, Mahmoud Al Baloushi would not be with us as he was unable to get leave from work."
That combined with Hamad Al Janahi arriving from the United States, where he is studying, only in April, left the UAE staring at an uphill task according to Behroozian.
"[Hamad] did his best, but two months were clearly not enough to compete in Group III where every match is tough. In Group IV, you can manage with just one strong active player but not in Group III," he said.
"About three days before we were to leave, we didn't even know who the third and fourth players would be.
"We must have a fair idea of what the squad will be at the beginning of the season. It can't be March and April and we're still guessing who the other guys will be. I hope that we can sort out this problem one day."
