Paes leaving midway final nail in coffin: Mahesh

Bengaluru, April 9 

Mahesh Bhupathi today said he had no “personal agenda” in keeping Leander Paes out of the Indian Davis Cup team and said his former partner’s decision to leave Bengaluru midway into the tie was the final nail in the coffin. 

After India’s win against Uzbekistan, Bhupathi made public his Whatsapp chat with Paes on March 5. In their chat, Bhupathi told Paes that he was still undecided about the combination but logically Rohan Bopanna would suit the conditions in Bengaluru.

Bhupathi is livid that Paes has accused him of bias and using his position to exclude him from the playing squad. The former Davis Cupper pointed out that Paes had his own definition of “respect” and claimed that the winner of 18 Grand Slams never walked the talk when it came to disciplinary issues.

“Through twenty years of my career, I always believed facts will always surface and unless I was pushed into a deep hole, I never responded or felt the need to because regardless of what was said, the media would play it up as a personal feud,” Bhupathi wrote in a Facebook post. “There was never a personal feud. When I came on the Davis Cup scene in 1994, I was a Leander fan and was excited to see him play Wayne Ferreira, who was No. 10 in the world.”

“However, things changed quickly when both our captain Jaidip Mukerjea and coach Enrico Piperno were strong-armed out of the team (towards the) end of 1999 because he (Paes) had heard a rumour of them being upset that he didn’t come for the tie against Italy but was fully fit to play Chennai open the following week... that should have been the first red flag.

“He had his own definition for the word “respect” and it quickly became apparent there was only one train on the track, either you get on or stay home,” said Bhupathi.

Bhupathi said he was friends with Somdev Devvarman, Rohan, Sania Mirza, Purav Raja and Saketh Myneni because they had mutual respect, which they never got in any form from the other (Paes),” wrote Bhupathi.    “...He took his spot on the team for granted and showed up late for Davis Cup or the Olympics, did not comply with team requests on uniform or outfit, blatantly told the captain or management that things have to fall in place the way he needed them... His leaving Bangalore on Saturday in the middle of our tie was the final nail in the coffin.”

In a clear warning, Bhupathi made it clear that if Paes did not like his ideas, he should not come in his way. “I have full support of AITA and the selection committee, so there’s a new train on the track to get India back to the World group. It’s full of energy, positivity, hard work and dreams... those who don’t like it should stay out of the way because we don’t plan to stop till we get there!” said Bhupathi. — PTI

It’s unbecoming of Davis Cup captain: Paes

Livid at Mahesh Bhupathi for making their private conversion public, Leander Paes said his former partner's conduct was unbecoming of a Davis Cup captain. “That a private exchange has been made public just points to the kind of conduct that I find unbecoming of a Davis Cup captain,” Paes said in a statement. In his three-point statement, Paes said the main criterion for selection was indeed form even as Bhupathi claimed that form was not the sole criterion. “The main criterion for selection was form. That's clearly mentioned in the exchange. This was not followed when it came to the final selection,” he said. Paes further wrote, “I was never categorically told that I would not be playing. But it was apparent that the decision was made before I arrived in Bengaluru. This is what I found unnecessary and disrespectful.” Paes said he would soon come out with a detailed response to Bhupathi's claims.