Billie Jean King Cup (previously Fed Cup) - India

[jayakris]

But when is Sahaja going to play well again like she can? She just keeps losing and losing these days. Such a depressing time in Indian tennis.

[prasen9]

Shalini Thakur (who never played outside India, and reached a career high of 811 in singles) is the captain?! AITA plumbing new depths! I thought Rohit Rajpal as captain was bad enough, but now this!!

The captain's slot is being totally wasted. It is far from ornamental, as the captain has a key role in motivating players in DC and BJK Cup.

Do we know that anyone else wanted to be the captain and was not contacted? I think the morale and expectation is so low and people like Sania, etc. are busy with their own more worthy endeavours (rightly so) that maybe she was the best available. Just giving the benefit of doubt. Now, if someone was asked by a journo and said that they were never contacted, then, of course, AITA is to blame.

[jayakris]

Shalini Thakur (who never played outside India, and reached a career high of 811 in singles) is the captain?! AITA plumbing new depths! I thought Rohit Rajpal as captain was bad enough, but now this!!

Ankita had some comments on this. She didn't say it as being peeved at seeing Shalini Thakur as the captain, but it is clear why she spoke up.
Need ‘some consistency’ with captain and coach: Ankita Raina

You are right, PKB, about plumbing new depths. When our players are wishing they had Vishal Uppal (who himself is no great shakes) as their captain, there is nothing else we can call it but "plumbing new depths".

[sameerph]

This is a nice article on Coach Shalini Thakur from Kamesh in Sportsstar-

Shalini Thakur Chawla ready to lead India in Billie Jean King Cup

There are some good things said there about her. Hope she measures up well as non playing captain.

[Atithee]

Thanks for sharing the article about Shalini, Sameer.

I hope this shuts the uninformed criticism of her appointment.

[jayakris]

^^^ A little bit. But not really...

If Kamesh says she is good, I will take it. But AITA does not appoint people because they are good. They just appoint people they want to appoint. I am not going to accept that AITA suddenly got so impressed with Shalini Thakur and appointed her. They probably felt, "here is somebody who is focused on her work who would not cause us trouble. Let us make her part of the family". Whatever their calculation was. AITA has done do much of this kind of things in the past that some of us will continue to criticize them when they do appointments without any real merit in the resume.

But we may have got lucky here. Shalini might be a good coach. Thank you Lord!

[jayakris]

Some more about this AITA story today, by Prajwal Hegde, another good senior tennis scribe -- Billie Jean King Cup: Did AITA miss a trick by overlooking Sania Mirza? (Times of India)

Prajwal comments that it is "increasingly looking like an AITA vs AITA battle".

I am sure the "happy family" will patch things up, will make sure of everybody staying quiet, and let barking dogs just bark, so they can continue focusing like a laser beam on their important task of doing nothing... and the great family atmosphere will once again return to AITA like it always does, thereby taking Indian tennis to great heights like in the recent past decades! Let us all sing Kumbaya to that.

[arjun2761]

Even if she could still play, she could be appointed a playing captain or something like that. I think even without regular tour play, it is easy to gauge her fitness during practice and she could suit up for a critical match and likely make a difference. Not sure what her interest level is, but AITA should definitely have reached out to her...

[jayakris]

^^^ Well, that is my complaint. AITA will deliberately NOT reach out, when it suits them. I am not sure if that was the case here but it has usually been how they are. They would have their "nice" excuses like they always have, for doing things or not doing things the way they do. "Oh, it was unfortunate... Wish we knew... We love him/her, but we thought..." Some BS will always be there to feed to the press and everybody who criticizes them. Slippery slime, that can't be caught. They won't openly fight anybody either. They will make sure that no blame sticks to them. They have been great at that for decades now. Just a do-nothing organization that we cannot find a way to change or get rid of. Can't take them to court. Can't get a public outcry on them. The players know they can't do anything... So on. Just a lost cause.

All I know is that nothing AITA does or doesn't do ever really helps Indian tennis. Frustrating.

[Atithee]

I don’t think they make the matters much worse either unlike some other federations in India. Frankly, asking Sania to play for us is pointless. I’m glad they didn’t ask her. Most likely she wasn’t likely to play anyway.

[jayakris]

^^^ Yeah, that is why I only said they "never help" and did not say that they hurt in Indian (on average they probably don't). But it is a pointless organization. Why do we even have an AITA if they are not doing anything to help Indian tennis?

Play or not, Sania would have been a captain around whom our players could rally. Somebody whose advice and plans they would take fully to heart and try to execute. It is the kind of experiment you try if you want to take our tennis to the next level. But AITA will not try it, because they are not necessarily interested in trying anything. Certainly not an experiment of bringing in an opinionated and tough-to-control personality like Sania. When they are sure that Sania is indicating her willingness to play "nice" and generally dance to their tune of not upsetting any apple cart, they will call her. They are not sure of that now, so such an experiment in "helping Indian tennis" will not be in their agenda. We could have predicted it months ahead if anybody had asked us! We have all seen what AITA does, for such a long time.

[Atithee]

I’ll not go that far. Shalini Thakur’s appointment seems like a thoughtful move to me. Sania may be too costly for her services. Not even sure what she can do when the talent isn’t there. It’s not the women’s captain has Leanders who can be motivated to beat a top-20 player on a given day. The chasm and ceiling in our women is quite apparent.

AITA can do more and better is still a fact.

[jayakris]

^^^ Thoughtful? I can guarantee that there is nothing thoughtful that AITA ever does. Well, I take that back. They are thoughtful. About keeping their rights to do nothing and to keep excuses ready all the time. We need not have any suspicion that they picked Shalini Thakur because she would help the BJK team (which she very much may - she could be good!). No. We can rest assured that they picked her only because they felt it will be least trouble for themselves in the medium and long run. If Kamesh's comments are to be believed, Shalini is a good one, and AITA (and we) might get lucky. Even blind squirrels find an acorn sometimes. But don't tell me AITA was thoughtful for Indian tennis' sake. Not a chance. We have seen AITA for way too long to know that it simply can't be the case.

[VReddy]

Just 5 mins of Googling will tell you:

1. Balaram Singh ji is a stalwart of Indian Tennis. Nominated for the Lifetime Achievement award: https://indianexpress.com/article/sport ... d-7381316/

2. His children — Ashutosh Singh and Shalini Thakur

3. Ashutosh Singh ji has thread started by our PKB and is the Indian Boys sub-age group team coach: http://www.sports-india.com/phpBB/viewt ... p?t=213825

4. Shalini has impressive credentials in her own and running half marthons!! Thats sheer hard work, someone not resting on her laurels - only have respect for such people.

5. Dad Balaram Singh ji is possibly part of the selection committee which selected her? : Selection committee details here - https://aitatennis.com/sub-commitees/

The parental lineage and them being based in Delhi is a big part of them being groomed for this role but one has to hand it for them for forming their own identity through sheer hard work and deserve all the support. To be fair - this is all part and parcel of India in every walk of life. We are a 3rd world country - we will hopefully evolve into a middle income country in our lifetime.

For Sania, I sincerely hope she doesnt get into these small and silly roles of 1-2 weeks assignments where fans here/outside and press will be happy to jump onto her with criticism at the first instance possible. Her and Imran Mirza sir stature is much much bigger than these tiny roles (at least in my view). She has a friend in KTR who is heading the Telangana Govt. Sometime in the future when Tennis moves up the priority chain from say No. 5 to No. 3 in her priority list - she can have a huge transformational impact starting with Telangana and Dubai.

[jayakris]

We find excuses for our own country. Okay I will join all of you, and be a quiet "AITA supporter" then. If none of you want to criticize the nice "family operation" called AITA going on in Delhi.