The much maligned Mahesh Bhupathi spoils his image further on captaincy debut

For most of us, Mahesh Bhupathi may be the villain, donning the captain’s hat, and putting an end to the career of Leander Paes, at least in Davis Cup.

For some of us, Mahesh Bhupathi is a captain with a vision, who will ensure that the brilliant career of Leander Paes has a bright and worthy finish.

Against a weak Uzbekistan team, struggling without its spearhead Denis Istomin, it would have been the easiest thing to field Paes, with or without Rohan Bopanna, and ensure that the champion gets the record for maximum doubles wins of 43 in Davis Cup.

For all the inspiration that he manages to eke out from nowhere, and the enthusiasm that has seen him compete in seven straight Olympics, the 43-year-old Paes may have been tempted to say goodbye to the Davis Cup theatre.

There was nothing much left to prove for him, or so most of us had thought.

To fly from Mexico across the globe to Bengaluru, despite being named only as a reserve, Paes had done everything within his reach to be eligible for inclusion in the tie. Even though the knowledgeable CGK Bhupathi chose to term a $75,000 Challenger as a ‘’two bit’’ event, and chose to dismiss Paes winning it, as some sort of bad preparation, merely because of the anguish at the attack launched against his son, it was clear that Paes had stretched himself quite a bit to be ready.

All the arguments of Paes are absolutely fair, when he cried foul on not being nominated in the four-member team for the tie. They are almost on similar lines to the argument that Bopanna put forth, when he was dropped for the tie against New Zealand.

However, Paes had agreed that the captain had the prerogative to choose his team. He wanted a phone call, intimating him that he was not wanted.

That was not possible. It would have been suicidal to say ‘’no’’ to a reserve player, especially after what had happened in the previous tie against New Zealand in Pune. Vishnu Vardhan had to fly from Hyderabad on the morning of the draw, and understandably was not as sharp as he could have been, as he and Paes, the London Olympics partners, lost in four sets.

So, there was no question of telling Paes that he was not wanted in advance. But the fact remained that Mahesh never kept Paes in his four-member team. He would have kept him out of the six member squad had the national selectors and the All India Tennis Association (AITA) listened to his line of thought.

Mahesh firmly believes in the ‘’horses for courses’’ policy. He chose Bengaluru because it would suit the big servers and the fast court would suit the stroke players. It was impossible to keep Bopanna out in such a scenario.

The idea was not to get rid of Paes, by helping him to the record, but to ensure that he plays his part when required. No captain would have been able to convince someone like Paes, with such a rich Davis Cup record, to sit out. It was no wonder that Mahesh failed, even though there is no doubt that he is the biggest fan of Paes.

If we brush up our memory, not long ago, Mahesh had kept Paes in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), his personal baby. So, where is the question of not wanting Paes in the Davis Cup squad.

To be fair to him, Mahesh also wants to break the mould, and create a new structure for Indian team. There has been enough of doubles. Let us not forget that Paes himself was so heroic in so many singles matches, against some of the best players in the world, rather than doubles, in the Davis Cup theatre.

Had Yuki Bhambri been fit and playing, Mahesh could have even kept his friend Bopanna out, to try and make the singles specialists ready for hard battle. For sure, Mahesh does not require Davis Cup to prove anything to Bopanna, or settle scores against Paes. The much maligned Mahesh certainly has some vision for Indian tennis.

In fact, Mahesh did have a chat with Paes in Dubai during the ATP event recently and had expressed that it was a privilege to captain a team with him. In the same breath, Mahesh had also made it clear that nobody was guaranteed a place.

The only request from Paes was that he should not be kept in the squad, if he was not being played. It was a gentleman’s promise, but it was not in Mahesh’s hands to keep Paes out of the squad for the tie against Uzbekistan !

Obviously, Paes needs a high quality partner, whom he could trust, to bring his best game out. With due respect to all the players, not many in Indian tennis can inspire that. Saketh Myneni and Paes played a brilliant match against the Olympic champions Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez in Delhi last September in the World Group play-off, but fell short at the crunch.

Paes and Bopanna had fared miserably against the Czech in the Capital two years ago, after the same pair had bounced back from being down two sets and a break, to beat the Serbs in Bengaluru, in 2014. Paes and Bopanna had won against easy meat, the Koreans, on grass in Chandigarh last year before all the bitterness came to the top in the run-up to the Rio Olympics and the climax in Brazil, when Paes and Bopanna crashed out in the first round.

Ever since Bopanna announced that he could not strike a winning partnership with Paes, and wanted to play with Saketh instead, at the Rio Olympics, by virtue of being a top-10 player with the right to choose his partner, Paes must have been convinced that there was a group in operation to keep him out.

In such a back drop, Paes was literally challenging everyone to drop him. In the process, he walked into a punch that shook his senses.

‘’Sometimes, you have to take things on the chin, throw your shoulders back and keep working hard’’, Paes had said.

The complaint and moaning apart, his positive mind set, after being dropped, clearly indicate that we still have a lot to see of Paes. So, let nobody be in any hurry to write the end game for him.

He may not like to read these lines, but this was the bitter tonic that Paes needed to fire himself up, on possibly the final stretch of his professional tennis career. Champions are best known when they face adversity. In his distinguished career, Paes has jumped over many hurdles to establish his ability to go, far beyond his limitations.

No matter how much people criticise Paes for not being diligent with his training schedules, or find fault, even if it is rain that stops training after three games, there is no doubt that whenever he wants, Paes can put the flesh and spirit in sync, dancing to his tune. He is still the quickest at the net on planet earth. If he gets the right partner, Paes can win Grand Slam doubles, not just mixed doubles with Martina Hingis, the incomparable Swiss miss.

All he needs is the motivation. Mahesh Bhupathi and the tricky situation has given him plenty of it!

It is unfair to call someone a villain, when he brings out the best in a champion like Paes.

For all the sickness that people feel on looking at Indian tennis, they just need to detach themselves and look at the big picture.

For sure, it is getting better. For all his 27 years and many years of tennis around the world, few knew Prajnesh Gunneswaran, the left-hander from Chennai, who fired the bombs on the opening day of Davis Cup against the Uzbeks and hit with such a flourish and intensity.

The players may be the same, but Indian tennis is a kaleidoscope, ready to project many fascinating and colourful pictures.

Fortunately or unfortunately, nothing will be in black and white !