Indian Tennis blues

Will he or will he not?

That’s the million dollar question concerning Paes partnering a relatively inexperienced Vishnu Vardhan. Fears are that Paes might skip the Olympics all-together. And that seems to be a worrying factor, with just a month to go for the Olympics, there are doubts concerning India’s highest ranked doubles player participating in the games.

Looking from the fans’ point of view, it looks unfortunate to say the least, but hold on, pairing up Bhupathi-Bopanna might be India’s best chance for a medal.

Here’s why- The whole country treasures the memory of India’s favourite tennis duo Lee-Hesh playing together as a team, winning matches in Grand Slams, the Davis Cup and so many other ATP events. We could literally feel the vigour seeing their famous chest-bumps while the whole nation was proud of the Indian Express. Despite their personal issues, they came together to give one last shot at the Olympics when they decided to play the 2011 season as a team. But a strings of defeats in the later part of the season led them to part ways, hinting that they were a bit old together and needed younger legs to play with. However, AITA announced the bickering duo as our doubles entry, and Bhupathi quite openly ridiculed it due to the differences he shared with Paes.

Keeping in mind that doubles requires not only physical but (more importantly) mental coordination between the players, it makes you wonder, was it the best of ideas to see them as India’s best medal prospect in tennis?

Bhupathi-Bopanna, on the other hand have been together for a few months and they have the best (however bleak) chance of us winning a medal. That’s what AITA did when their primary (Lee-Hesh) and secondary(Lee-Bopanna) selections didn’t work out.

Now on the other side- Somdev, Yuki Bhambri and Vishnu Vardhan were the probables for getting selected as the second Indian doubles entry with Paes. The selectors decided to show some faith on the Asian Games mixed doubles silver medallist Vardhan, which given the circumstances, might have been the best foot forward. As Somdev is primarily considered as a singles player and Bhambri’s the least experienced of the lot, this led to the selection of Vishnu Vardhan. Asking Paes to partner a second stream player might be a bit unfair on him, as he’s India’s only Olympic medallist (he won a bronze in the Atlanta games in singles) and a prominent doubles player, but if you go by history, Ramesh Krishnan partnered Leander when he was 19 in the year 1992, and Paes hasn’t looked back ever since. Playing with Leander Paes might do wonders for a guy like Vishnu Vardhan and India has to look beyond Paes and Bhupathi who’re both in their late 30′s, thus nurturing young talent now will only be helpful looking into the future.

Indian tennis is surely going through tough times, the only thing that can make it better is a medal(s) at the Olympics. As fans, it’s about time we back our players when they need us the most. The teams have been selected and it’s possibly the best that could be done, the focus should be on the court now and not off it. Let’s be optimistic about Leander’s participation as this is probably his last chance to win a medal for India in the Olympics he will get, while a guy like Vishnu Vardhan will have gain great exposure and Bhupathi-Bopanna have their point to prove as well. The first serve was a fault but Indian tennis contingent is experienced enough to not make a double fault. When the odds are against you, it brings the best out of you, hope its the same with our tennis teams!