Indian tennis has seen the worse in the last one week. No matter whatever glory the sport has brought to the nation, its image has been sullied by the unsavoury incident involving those who were considered as idols by millions. Whatever happened in the last 7-8 days will always be termed as the most disappointing instance in the history on Indian sport.

In the final decision, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) succumbed to the pressure from the players and some ‘very influential’ people and had to change their decision of sending just one doubles team to London Olympics. However the drama is not over yet and there are chances that the best Indian tennis player of all time -- Leander Paes -- may decide to skip the most prestigious tournament.

Let’s start it from the beginning. The controversy arose when AITA paired Mahesh Bhupathi with Leander Paes and decided that they will only send one team when they had the option of sending two.  The decision looked quite fair from tennis fans’ point of view as they were the two best doubles players in India and it did make sense to pair them up if India wanted to win a medal. But the decision did not go well with Bhupathi as he said come what may be he would not pair up with Paes.

He claimed that he and Rohan Bopanna have been practicing together from the past 7-8 months together and he would only play with him. By the look of things, it was clear that Paes also wanted to get teamed up with Bopanna and hence AITA went to Bopanna and asked him to pair with Paes.

But it was not going to be that simple as even Bopanna refused to pair with Paes, who is only Indian to get a direct entry into the Olympics. From there things messed up as AITA made their stand very clear that Paes was their number one choice and one of the two would have to be pair up with him because sending two teams was not an option.

Bhupathi-Bopanna then took a bold step as they not only went vocal wrote letters to the Sports Ministry and AITA and the matter took an ugly turn. The minister got involved asking AITA as to why they weren’t sending two teams when they have the choice. Even the political heavyweights like S.M. Krishna, who is the External Affairs Minister of India, came into the picture as he tried convincing Paes to pick partner other then Bhupathi or Bopanna.

Paes, however, made it very clear that he will not team up with a lower grade partner and also hinted that he might not even go to participate if he is forced to choose a partner.

Meanwhile, AITA in the meeting on Wednesday eventually decided that they will pair up Bhupathi and Bopanna as one team and Paes and the youngster Vishnu Vardhan as another, consolation for Paes being that the champion will get to partner Sania in mixed doubles if the later gets a wild card entry into the tournament.

The decision has been welcomed by the Bhupathi camp as they claimed that finally they got what they deserved.

But one question that comes to mind is that could AITA have avoided all the drama. Didn’t AITA know about the equation between Paes Bhupathi and Bopanna. Anil Khanna, who is the president of AITA, said that they knew that the decision of picking the team for the Olympics will be one of the most difficult for them.

AITA’s defence is also valid when it says Paes is the only Indian player to have got the direct entry in the Olympics and he should have had the option to choose his partner. Why should he compromise when he is the number one player in India? If AITA was clear on that stand then they shouldn’t have changed their decision.

It does not matter whether Bhupathi and Bopanna deserved to go or not, because the way they took to make their point was unethical and unacceptable. They virtually blackmailed the association and have set a wrong example for other sportsmen. It sends the wrong signal and it won’t be a surprise if other players start behaving the way they have behaved.

What if the players from other sports start monopolizing the things? Tennis is an individual sport and there is rarely a chance to pair up but if this kind of situation arises in team sport, just imagine the situation. Let’s take cricket, here we have 11 individuals playing the most loved sport in this nation. What if someone takes a stance like what Bhupathi and Bopanna did. Just think of a situation if Sehwag and Gambhir team refuses to play under Dhoni’s captaincy…what will the BCCI do in that case.

In tennis one has a freedom of choosing a partner in all the ATP tours, but when it comes down to representing the nation one has to listen to the associations.

Anil Khanna has said that AITA will establish a code of conduct and will consider appropriate action against Bhupathi and Bopanna after the Olympics, but will that solve anything. The incident will always be remembered as when players revolted in an unethical manner and got what they wanted.

Realistically speaking India’s chance of winning a medal in the doubles category is not bright, they will be competing against world’s best, everyone from Bryan Brothers to Noval Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and others will be competing in that category.

It’s a sad day for this country and there will hardly be a tennis fan who will care about what will happen to the Indian tennis team in the upcoming Olympics. Better would have been to ban the dissenting voice to set a stringent preposition where in future players would have thought twice before keeping their personal egos and preferences above the country.

By Gaurav Jha
Indian Sports News