Indian tennis icon Leander Paes is pained by the relegation of the nation’s Davis Cup crew and feels it can take a “higher half of a decade” to elevate the usual.
The Indian Davis Cup crew was relegated to World Group 2 for the primary time after a 2-3 loss to Denmark of their away fixture earlier this month.
“I really feel prefer it’s going to take a couple of years, till the Davis Cup crew has some critical expertise in it,” mentioned the participant with a report 45 doubles victories in Davis Cup.
Indian tennis’ decline was obvious through the Australian Open final month when, for the primary time since 2017, no participant from the nation may make the lower to compete within the qualification spherical of a Grand Slam.
“I really feel fairly saddened in a means that we don’t have one participant within the singles rating within the top-300. I don’t assume that’s ever occurred,” mentioned the Olympic bronze medallist.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran is at the moment the highest-ranked Indian in singles at 306 on the ATP listing.
“I’ve super respect for all our Indian gamers who’re travelling on the circuit in a sport like tennis the place the price of coaching and conducting (making a) the profession is so costly.” “In tennis, the place 99 per cent of the game is performed outdoors the nation, being alone on the circuit is just not straightforward. Zeeshan (Ali) and I’ve slept in locker rooms as a result of we didn’t have cash to pay for a resort.
“That being mentioned, I believe it’s going to take a greater half of a decade for the Davis Cup crew to have that high quality like we had when Ramesh Krishnan, Zeeshan Ali, Vijay Amritraj and all of us had… To get to the semi-finals within the Davis Cup is harder now,” he mentioned.
Leander was addressing the media sitting beside his father Dr Vece Paes, a bronze medallist on the 1971 hockey World Cup in Barcelona, and the Munich Olympics in 1972.
Biopic within the pipeline
Leander, who campaigned for the Trinamool Congress forward of the Goa Meeting elections final yr, refused to take any political questions and mentioned he’s at the moment busy engaged on a biopic to painting the father-son duo’s legacy on the massive display screen. He revealed that it needs to be prepared in 18 months.
“I’m working by myself story proper now. I’ll give somewhat nugget in the present day that the Leander storyboard is being labored on proper now. I can’t converse a lot about it.
“It is going to be a narrative of how baba (father) received his Olympic medal in 1972 and some of you might be sufficiently old to know what occurred there.
“You all will perceive why a younger boy rising as much as my father’s historical past, my ardour was to emulate him. So it’s going to be about 1972 to 1996 actually.
“It’s going to be an inspirational story on how not essentially you need to be the tallest, most proficient, expert (individual) to turn into an athlete… Not essentially you’ll have to have nice infrastructure both.
“I’m engaged on a storyboard in the mean time and hopefully in 18 months you’ll get to see it and the posters will likely be on the market.” Requested whether or not he desires to get into sports activities administration and be part of the All India Tennis Affiliation (AITA), he gave an oblique reply.
“I used to be born right into a home the place each my mother and father performed for Tiranga (Tri-colour), I grew up in a home the place I ironed my father’s taking part in jersey, which had No. 10 on it. My mom’s jersey was No. 5,” mentioned Leander, who was born right into a sports activities household with father a hockey Olympian and mom, Jennifer, an Indian basketball captain.
“After I have a look at India as a complete, for me doing issues for the neighborhood and creating alternatives for the youth is crucial factor. The subsequent decade could be very attention-grabbing as we’re the youngest nation on the planet.
“Whenever you speak about sports activities as a car to provide alternative to the youth, that’s the place my ardour is. My ardour is giving alternatives to the youth in order that they will dwell their desires.”
Djokovic, the GOAT
Leander additionally hailed Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open victory final month, that introduced him on par with Rafael Nadal’s 22 profession Grand Slams.
The win got here only a yr after the Serbian was deported from the identical venue for not being vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19.
“Djokovic didn’t get an opportunity to play in Australia due to COVID points, however it was fantastic to see him profitable the Australian Open on his return final month.
“For me his perseverance, his tenacity, his grit is one thing that I like quite a bit. Sure, he will get a little bit of a foul repute due to the way in which he conducts the eagerness, the boldness that he has, the way in which he’s daring in making statements.
“Just a few folks could not like his character however for me I’ve a lot respect for his character. He comes from a rustic that’s actually arduous and hard and from there to turn into a champion, speaks quite a bit.
“He’s bought one other 4 years forward of him, that’s 16 Grand Slams. Is he going to win one or two extra? 100 per cent. He may win a minimum of 5 extra. I believe in my humble opinion, Djokovic will go down within the historical past books as the best of all time,” Leander signed off.