New Delhi: Crisis in Indian tennis further deepened on Monday when the revolting players virtually rejected the compromise formula offered by the All India Tennis Association (AITA).
According to sources, the players, in a letter to the AITA, have expressed their reservation about accepting former Davis Cup player Zeeshan Ali as the coach and have demanded that the current captain, Shiv Prakash Mishra, should be removed before the Davis Cup tie against South Korea next month.
The players have suggested that either former doubles star Anand Amritraj or Rohit Rajpal should be made the captain of the team for the tie against the South Koreans. The warring group of players include Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna, Somdev Dev Varman, Yuki Bhambri, Vishnu Vardhan, Sanam Singh, Divij Sharan and Saket Myneni.
An AITA official, however, said that the federation was in no mood to make any further climb-down and would stick to its earlier stand. “We have done whatever we could… Now we will go ahead with the selection as per the availability of the players. If anyone is not willing to listen, he is free to take his own decision.”
The official said that experienced campaigner Leander Paes has already sent in his availability to play the tie.
On Sunday, the association made an effort to accommodate the players’ demands about consulting the players on several issues, including the choice of venue for Davis Cup matches, a bigger share of prize money and providing business class flight tickets to the captain and four players.
AITA had agreed to remove Mishra as the non-playing captain, but only after the South Korea tie, as it wanted the veteran to get an honourable exit and suggested Zeeshan as the alternative.
However, the players were not impressed and said it would not be the right decision. “The players felt that imposing a man as the coach, who had no touch with the top players for the past 15 years, would be a mistake,” a source said. In case the AITA was keen on accommodating Zeeshan, he should first be made the manager so that he could build a rapport with the team members, the players suggested.
The players wondered what the idea was behind giving Mishra an “emotional” send-off when the need of hour was to build a strong team that could qualify for the World Group.
None of the former captains, like Ramesh Krishnan, Jaidip Mukerjea or Leander Paes, were given such send-offs when they were axed as captains, the players pointed out.
The players also did not agree to the proposal that only the captains and four players would get business-class flight tickets during Davis Cup.
Demanding equal treatment for all team members, the players said a six-member team was necessary for the Davis Cup.
Prize money should also be shared with the fifth and sixth members of the team, they said. For this, the players said, they were ready to take a cut in their share of prize money.
