Indian Davis Cup Team Mess

[Sudipta Mallik]

I am not biased towards Prakash or Rohan. They are both solid players who continue to improve. I feel that the way this has been handled has been very poor. They should have gone directly to the source - LP.

Based on what I have read, I will say that I do have an issue with some of the comments LP has made to the press, and to his players. Some of those alleged comments are disrespectful and not necessary. Aside from that, the other stuff such as not contacting the players regularly, giving encouragement, playing in 5th rubber.....are non issues imo. These are all grown men....I don't think that its the captain's job to do all that.

[wrestlinglife]

1. 4-5 days before the tie? they weren't even there that early!
2. As Harsh Mankad pointed out, Davis Cup is a 3-day event. To expect the captain to do anything beyond that goes above and beyond the duty of a captain in an individual sport. Perhaps they expect more from Leander than they should. But that doesn't make him a bad choice.
3. Mostly he's criticized because he played himself in the 5th match. Sorry to say, but when he did decide to do so, he was still able to deliver the results. At 34, he was still one of the top singles player in India on grass. A captain has to think about winning.
4. Objecting to things like calling them boys is absurd, given that Dhoni, much younger than Paes does so in cricket too!

[amr090]

1. 4-5 days before the tie? they weren't even there that early!
2. As Harsh Mankad pointed out, Davis Cup is a 3-day event. To expect the captain to do anything beyond that goes above and beyond the duty of a captain in an individual sport. Perhaps they expect more from Leander than they should. But that doesn't make him a bad choice.
3. Mostly he's criticized because he played himself in the 5th match. Sorry to say, but when he did decide to do so, he was still able to deliver the results. At 34, he was still one of the top singles player in India on grass. A captain has to think about winning.
4. Objecting to things like calling them boys is absurd, given that Dhoni, much younger than Paes does so in cricket too!

Again it amuses me that people who have no actual information or facts feel the need to criticize.  Praksh was actually in India something like a week to 10 days before the tie.  He actually withdrew from a Chinese futures event so he would be in tip top shape for Davis Cup and arrived EARLY to practice and get ready.


Again LP is not being criticized for putting himself in the 5th tie he is being criticized for disparaging remarks which I mentioned in my previous post it had nothing to do with calling them 'boys'.  As I stated in my previous post I disagree with Harsh or anyone else who claims Davis Cup is only a '3 day event'.  If that is the type of captain we want then I don't know what to say.  I would prefer to have a captain willing to work to ensure India returns to the top of Davis Cup throughout the year rather than '3 days'. 

[jai_in_canada]

As far as the party incident jai, he didn't go out the night before he went out something like 4-5 days before the tie, now whether he got sick due to going out or eating bad food like he says, .....

Arun, I did not raise this issue - so u must have meant to address somebody else.

********

From all the bits and pieces of information flying around, not just in this case but through the past few years, it is evident to me that Lee is not what you would call a "people person" - and that is likely putting it mildly. 

Lee's passion and skill make him a great performer in Davis Cup - in the small pond that is Asian Davis Cup anyway.  However, if the players don't like Lee as a person or as a captain, even if they admire him as a player, then either Lee must step down or we'll have unhappy / absent players on the team.

Khanna cannot simply hope that this problem will go away or pig headedly ignore the problem or stick to his guns because his ego informs him that he must not respond to "threats" of boycott.

I think the real culprit in all of this is Anil Khanna and his stupid mis-management and lack of vision and leadership.  What the hell does he do, anyway?

[wrestlinglife]

It is a double-edged sword: Leander is also working with a team with not much quality relative to international standards with no top-200 players. Also, how much work did the other captains do the rest of the year? And what was this work? Clearly, when you appoint a playing captain active full-time on the tour, there are some things that you can't have. However, by asking for his dismissal in this manner (rather than simply saying a non-playing captain will be better), they have set up a confrontation of egos. Things like "his strategy" is different than mine and such muddles the issues further.

[10nis_ace]

This episode in the ever-going soap opera of Indian tennis has been so dramatic due to a few mis-steps and lack of proper judgement shown by all three parties involved:

1. The aggrieved players should have shown some patience before going public with their grievances. It's understandable that things were simmering for a long time against LP's supposedly un-empathising player-management style. However, I have no idea if PA/MB/Rohan gave enough time to AITA to look at the issues they raised. Their going public was rather impatient.

2. For a great player like LP given his immense accomplishments as an Indian DC player and on the ATP tour, his penchant for self-promotion comes in a way of him raising himself in the eyes of his team-mates and donning the role of a respected DC captain.

3. AITA should have shown some sensitivity to the issues that the players raised and responded with some sense of urgency. That would have perhaps prevented from getting this issue out in the open.

[BSharma]

AITA is going to have executive committee meeting on Thursday to discuss this issue -

AITA to discuss 'revolt' issue on Thursday

Why does the news about AITA’s Executive Committee meeting on Thursday gives me bad vibes? 

Rohan and Prakash are in USA, Leander and Mahesh are not in Delhi and the meeting will be held in Delhi.  Will President of AITA and former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha listen to what the players have to say in this matter before making his decision?

I hope that the meeting decides on the process that AITA should take to solve this problem rather than deciding on the grievances of the players in their absence from the meeting.  Prakash, Rohan and Mahesh have taken a very hard stance and some members in the forum feel that it is not a good strategy in a negotiation process.  The aggrieved players have made some mistakes, Leander has made mistakes, AITA has made mistakes and let us hope that AITA’s Executive Committee will act responsibly and perform its duty correctly.

[Caram Dharma]

Here are some points that everyone should think about LONG and HARD about this decision, which is absolutely the biggest one in Indian Tennis in recent years...

 

Deleted the rest of the quote since the specifics of the fantasy analysis is not germane.

Before touting our prospects at the world group level (in which mostly top 100 type players play), please note that neither Rohan nor Prakash have ever beaten a 150 type player in many years of Davis Cup play.  In fact, Rohan has just recorded his first top 300 win this year over Dustov on home grass (but lost to a 184 ranked IStomin on the same home grass).  Prakash has also had 2-3 top 300 type wins over the Uzbeks on home grass and has no other wins of substance in Davis Cup play.

Furthermore, 28 year old Rohan is now on the downward side of his singles career graph while Prakash can't seem to stay fit for more than 1-2 months on tour (even when he is not throwing up) and he has also had his career peak a couple of years back.  Basically, with 2 top 300 type singles players we are not going anywhere in the world group since we will be the underdog in 4 of the 5 matches in a Davis Cup tie.

For the future, Somdev (who is playing at a top 150 level) and may rise further if he competes regularly with the pros and Yuki in 2-3 years (if he follows the early rise path of most Indian phenoms) may be top 100 type players who can make us competitive at the world group level.  Rohan and Prakash may be a good doubles team in the future at the top level but to think that their limited and stagnant singles game will get us anywhere at the world group level is pure fantasy.

[madhavan]

Again it amuses me that people who have no actual information or facts feel the need to criticize.  Praksh was actually in India something like a week to 10 days before the tie.  He actually withdrew from a Chinese futures event so he would be in tip top shape for Davis Cup and arrived EARLY to practice and get ready.


Again LP is not being criticized for putting himself in the 5th tie he is being criticized for disparaging remarks which I mentioned in my previous post it had nothing to do with calling them 'boys'.  As I stated in my previous post I disagree with Harsh or anyone else who claims Davis Cup is only a '3 day event'.  If that is the type of captain we want then I don't know what to say.  I would prefer to have a captain willing to work to ensure India returns to the top of Davis Cup throughout the year rather than '3 days'. 

It doesn't matter what you want out of a Davis Cup Captain. A Davis cup captain is not expected to discharge his duties according to the expectations of an arm chair critic.

Is he paid through out the year for discharging his duties or is he paid on a tie by tie basis?? If he draws a monthly salary, then obviously he is expected to communicate and keep in touch with his wards through out the year.

Leander has done more for the country than any of us. He has an olympic medal to show for his patriotism. Lets give him the respect he deserves.

[amr090]

madhavan, leander gets more than enough respect from anyone...as has been stated repeatedly, no one has anything negative to say about leander's athletic accomplishments or his patriotism, so you seem to be arguing with yourself there.

as to your other point about us being arm chair critics, of course it matters what we say, the people of these countries that play davis cup is the reason davis cup matters....do you think it would exist if we the fans from certain countries did not pay attention?

as far as leander not doing things outside davis cup week as captain, perhaps you are materialistic enough to think that one only needs to be paid in order to mentor other fellow indians and show them care, advice, mentorship, and respect, but i do not.  take a look at the top davis cup captains in the world, tarpischev of russia, mcenroe of the US these are guys that pay CONSTANT attention to their players, are in touch with them regularly and treat them properly with respect.

so please save your irrelevant arguments about people questioning leander's patriotism, no one here is doing that, he has been plain and simple a pretty bad captain in terms of handling his own players...speaking about them negatively to the press, admonishing them privately, and not even monitoring their yearly form to know how theyre doing the rest of the year, and ignoring them at tournaments they are playing.

[madhavan]

madhavan, leander gets more than enough respect from anyone...as has been stated repeatedly, no one has anything negative to say about leander's athletic accomplishments or his patriotism, so you seem to be arguing with yourself there.

as to your other point about us being arm chair critics, of course it matters what we say, the people of these countries that play davis cup is the reason davis cup matters....do you think it would exist if we the fans from certain countries did not pay attention?

as far as leander not doing things outside davis cup week as captain, perhaps you are materialistic enough to think that one only needs to be paid in order to mentor other fellow indians and show them care, advice, mentorship, and respect, but i do not.  take a look at the top davis cup captains in the world, tarpischev of russia, mcenroe of the US these are guys that pay CONSTANT attention to their players, are in touch with them regularly and treat them properly with respect.

so please save your irrelevant arguments about people questioning leander's patriotism, no one here is doing that, he has been plain and simple a pretty bad captain in terms of handling his own players...speaking about them negatively to the press, admonishing them privately, and not even monitoring their yearly form to know how theyre doing the rest of the year, and ignoring them at tournaments they are playing.

Tennis is an Individual sport.  Players have to fend for themselves to earn their livelihood. They cannot be expected to monitor other players, provide them moral support, guidance, advice and mentorship.

Frankly speaking,  Vijay Amritraj is a far greater player than Leander and if Prakash looks for mentorship and advice, he has plenty at his disposal than even Leander himself.

If Leander is not treating them with dignity and respect, it is a fair call for Prakash and Rohan to write to AITA that they have a problem with Leander. But Prakash has no business telling the world that Leander didn't call him when he was injured. You can haul up someone for not doing his job properly, you cannot pull him up for not being courteous.

As for monitoring the players' form, I dont think it makes a differnece. As it stands, the players he has at his disposal are more or less equal in ability. 2 days of monitoring them in practise matches would be sufficient for LEander to decide whom he can field.

Well, you cannot hold him liable for what you think is the job requirements to be captain.  His appraisal as captain has to be done by his boss, Anil Khanna. It is for AITA to decide what should be the roles and responsibilities of captain and his performance has to be measured according to that.

As for now, I do not think India would have performed any better with any other captain.

[jayakris]

These players are not asking for mentoring from LP, Madhavan.   Their complaint (as has been the complaint of some here for the last 3-4 years) is that he does not keep in touch to make sure that the Davis Cup planning is done properly.  There have been many cases when the players had not been contacted in advance for them to plan properly.   The players then have to make decisions assuming things about Davis Cup etc.   The better captains around the world plan better.

Having said that, I am, despite all my criticisms of LP as a playing captain over the last few years on these items, strangely somewhat supportive of LP this time.   I just don't like the instransigent view from the players.   May be also because I know that the same players have had chances earlier and chose not to speak up at all or at least hint at things.  Then to suddenly create such a ruccus, is a little troublesome for me, though perhaps it was because they came to their wits' end finally.   

I also have never really liked anybody bringing up LP's playing the 5th singles etc, as driven by his looking for his records.  It has been mostly out of borderline judgment and over-reaction from LP who was too scared to roll the dice and show a bit more respect and trust in his players (which was also one of my complaints).   The rest of their complaints are all rather legit.  Their saying that they will not play under LP is troublesome to me, and not productive from their standpoint either.   I wish they showed a bit more respect to LP and at least said that they would not play unless LP (and AITA) agreed to change some things ..  he (and AITA) might even have agreed grudgingly.   

But now everybody have painted themselves to corners.  That hurts Indian tennis,  it hurts a hero that we all respect, and it realy does not help the concerned players either.   PA and RB have created a mess, so to say - and LP has been asking for it for a while too ... Yikes.

Jay

[amr090]

Madhavan let me respond to some of your points...

Tennis is an Individual sport.  Players have to fend for themselves to earn their livelihood. They cannot be expected to monitor other players, provide them moral support, guidance, advice and mentorship.

I don't think they are so much looking for support but rather are upset by the seeming hypocricy of media.  During Davis Cup week LP regularly goes into father figure mode painting himseld as some kind of benevelont figurehead of Indian tennis where he treats all the younger team members as younger brothers to be looked after and he talks about how much he cares, and how much advice he gives them.  The fact of the matter is largely, none of this is true....perhaps in his head he thinks that admonishing them during the week is 'tough love'  or that he is somehow helping, but during the rest of the year as far as i know there is nothing.  this upsets the players i think because he largely paints himself as someone who is looking out for the players day in and day out.

also, i do think the players do have respect and even affection for lp, and from my conversations i could sense genuine hurt at events that have occurred in the past, and lp going out and insinuating that prakash is somehow some kind of party animal, and was irresponsible in someway towards the country...perhaps lp did not even mean it in that way but once those words were out in the media that is what began to happen...

As for monitoring the players' form, I dont think it makes a differnece. As it stands, the players he has at his disposal are more or less equal in ability. 2 days of monitoring them in practise matches would be sufficient for LEander to decide whom he can field.

i think it can make a huge difference...to use the excuse we have players of current similar ability therefore i don't have to pay any attention to indian tennis the rest of the year to me is ludicrous....as captain he should be fully aware of which players are peaking, which players are cold, who is improving and who is rising onto the scene....he can't base everything on 1 week of practice....its not just about prakash and rohan, what about all the other younger guys out there like vishnu, ashutosh etc, he needs to know how theyre doing.....i don't blame him if he doesnt have time because he's still on the tour and busy with his own career...which is why i have been advocating a non-playing captain who can devote more time to this.

Well, you cannot hold him liable for what you think is the job requirements to be captain.  His appraisal as captain has to be done by his boss, Anil Khanna. It is for AITA to decide what should be the roles and responsibilities of captain and his performance has to be measured according to that.

As fans of Indian tennis, we can definitely hold players liable, when they are playing for the country, and although we can't personally pick players i think it is well within our write to critique or have opinions about the performance of our athletes.  of course we need to support their efforts at all times, but that does not mean we can put up with anything that goes on.

[anil chopra]

Unfortunately  my first post  is  on the most controversial  topic.

  This has  become  messy affair  and some compromise  is absolutely necessary

[Sathya]

I used to follow all the news related to Leander initially and Indian Express later... but somehow I get the same interest to keep searching for news on this controversy. Not good development though. Really sad.

Here is the Interview from Mahesh Bhupathy

Too much on Leander's plate to be the captain: Bhupathi

On pairing up with Paes for the Beijing Olympics

"The Beijing Olympics is still a month away and knowing me and Leander there are still a few good controversies between now and Beijing."

Good one Mahesh ! You are able to live with such situation. Its only WE FANS who suffer.