Bhupathi hits out at Paes

Tennis Davis Cup: Davis Cup captain calls veteran doubles player 'unprofessional'

Veteran Leander Paes hijacked the eve of India’s Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan, slamming captain Mahesh Bhupathi of lacking courtesy after being dropped for the first time in 27 years. It was only fitting that Bhupathi chose the final day to hit out after refusing to react for the last three days.

Holding nothing back, Bhupathi called Paes unprofessional for agreeing to come to Bengaluru and then abandoning the team midway after learning upon his non-selection despite being told in advance that he’s not a guaranteed starter.

“I met Leander at the Dubai Open and I reached out to him, being the captain, to see what his stance was about playing the Davis Cup in the current situation. On March 5, the day before the selection committee met, I sent him a message telling him candidly that I am going to ask for six players in the team. And that I would respect his decision if he decided not to come and if he wanted to wait till he was guaranteed a spot in the four,” said Bhupathi before revealing the text exchanges he shared with Paes.

 “He said that if he was in the six, he would be happy to come and that playing Davis Cup is the priority. It was pretty unfortunate what happened on Wednesday or Thursday especially when we had two debutantes in the team. My focus was always to keep them focused so that they can make a good debut. Unfortunately things got out of hand and I didn't really want to respond because my job is to keep the team as relaxed as possible to get through the tie. I am really proud of these guys. I will put what happened in my report to the AITA (All India Tennis Association) as a captain,” added Bhupathi.

Paes had accused Bhupathi of flouting the selection criteria but the captain thundered back saying the former didn't meet any of it.

“There were five things in my criteria. Obviously fitness was one and Leander was the only one out of these players who did not do the fitness test at the place I asked him to. So I don’t think he should be the one boasting about criteria. He’s extremely proud of the fact that he won that (ATP) Challenger in Leon (Mexico). Rohan (Bopanna) has played Novak Djokovic (in Indian Wells) and Nick Kyrgios in Miami, so it’s not a debate that I want to get into. My criteria is not one or two things, it’s five things and none of them was really met so there’s no debate on that one.”

When asked if the entire controversy could have been avoided had Paes not been picked in the first place, Bhupathi said he wanted to give his former partner the respect he deserved. “If you look at the chat, you will understand what has transpired between Leander and me. He deserves the respect after what he’s achieved for the country to be given the option to be in the six. We gave him the option and he readily took it. So after that, to sulk about not being in the four was a bit unprofessional.”

Bhupathi all but ruled out a return for Paes. “I am extremely hopeful of this team. Like I said in the press conference on Thursday, I am a big believer that we don’t necessarily require a doubles specialist in the team unless the specialist is playing at a level that I think will make a difference to the tie.”