LUCKNOW, Sep 15: Davis Cup has become just another tournament for the current generation of players and love of playing the ‘World Cup of Tennis’ can’t be seen these days, says Rohan Bopanna, who did not mind tweaking his own game to share the court with legendary Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in the prestigious event.
Gearing up to play his final Davis Cup tie against Morocco, Bopanna didn’t make any bones while admitting the new crop of players are not as passionate about playing the Davis Cup compared to ones from the bygone era.
“It has become too mechanical to just come, play and leave,” says Bopanna who is set to quit Davis Cup this coming Sunday. A bit agitated, he feels Davis Cup has become just another tournament for the current generation of players.
On the other side, Davis Cup is one tournament where it is believed across the globe that rankings won’t matter every time. Even the tiny tennis nations sometimes succeed in flooring the behemoths.
And that belief came from the team unity, proper planning and passionate support coming from the bench and the teammates who would shout their hearts out to support the player on the court from the sidelines.
“There used to be fantastic team atmosphere, which has been kind of lost in the last couple of years. And we need to bring that back,” Bopanna told in an exclusive interview. “Davis Cup is all about team camaraderie, spending time with the team, being together, everybody coming together. And I think that is a little missing link. We need to bring it back to have a successful team.”
Bopanna, who made his debut in 2002, spoke his mind on the current state of affairs in the side but even he does not know how the team has reached this point. He struggles to find an appropriate answer but tries to make sense of the situation.
“There’s no particular reason why it’s happened. I think, in a way, it is just ourselves trying to find each other, you know, understand that the (ATP) Tour is different, Davis Cup is different.”
“I have a feeling tennis has become more like a job, not only in the Davis Cup, but in general everybody comes, plays the matches, goes. 30 weeks they travel, they have their own coach, their own physio and everything.
“When I came into the team, it did not matter who (players) had what differences. In the locker room, that camaraderie was there, no matter what. That is missing.”
“Everybody is just focussed on what they need to do (for themselves) and not really figuring out what is (the) best scenario for the team.” Bopanna has played with both Paes and Bhupathi in his career, which will end with his 33rd tie on Sunday.
He actually grew up in their shadow and had to wait for a long time to be the leader of the side in terms of bringing experience to the table. He paired with Paes seven times in Davis Cup and shared the court with Bhupathi on two occasions.
(PTI)
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