Indian tennis icon Leander Paes is pained by the relegation of the nation’s Davis Cup group and feels it is going to take a “better half of a decade” to elevate the usual.
The Indian Davis Cup group 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 feel like it’s going to take a few years, until the Davis Cup team has some serious talent 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 feel quite saddened in a way that we don’t have one player in the singles ranking in the top-300. I don’t think that’s ever happened,” mentioned the Olympic bronze medallist.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran is presently the highest-ranked Indian in singles at 306 on the ATP record.
“I’ve tremendous respect for all our Indian players who are travelling on the circuit in a sport like tennis where the cost of training and conducting (making a) the career is so expensive.” “In tennis, the place 99 per cent of the game is performed outdoors the nation, being alone on the circuit shouldn’t be straightforward. Zeeshan (Ali) and I’ve slept in locker rooms as a result of we didn’t have cash to pay for a lodge.
“That being said, I think it’s going to take a better half of a decade for the Davis Cup team to have that quality like we had when Ramesh Krishnan, Zeeshan Ali, Vijay Amritraj and all of us had… To get to the semi-finals in the Davis Cup is tougher 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 Assembly elections final yr, refused to take any political questions and mentioned he’s presently busy engaged on a biopic to painting the father-son duo’s legacy on the massive display. He revealed that it must be prepared in 18 months.
“I’m working by myself story proper now. I’ll give a little bit nugget in the present day that the Leander storyboard is being labored on proper now. I can’t communicate a lot about it.
“It might 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 it’s a must to be the tallest, most proficient, expert (particular person) to turn into an athlete… Not essentially you’ll have to have nice infrastructure both.
“I’m working on a storyboard at the moment and hopefully in 18 months you will get to see it and the posters will be out there.” Asked whether or not he needs to get into sports activities administration and be a part of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), he gave an oblique reply.
“I was born into a house where both my parents played for Tiranga (Tri-colour), I grew up in a house where I ironed my father’s playing jersey, which had No. 10 on it. My mother’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.
“When I take a look at India as an entire, for me doing issues for the group and creating alternatives for the youth is a very powerful factor. The subsequent decade could be very attention-grabbing as we’re the youngest nation on the earth.
“When you talk about sports as a vehicle to give opportunity to the youth, that is where my passion is. My passion is giving opportunities to the youth so that they can live their dreams.”
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, nevertheless 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. Yes, he will get a little bit of a nasty fame due to the best way he conducts the eagerness, the boldness that he has, the best way he’s daring in making statements.
“A number of folks could not like his persona however for me I’ve a lot respect for his persona. He comes from a rustic that’s actually laborious and hard and from there to turn into a champion, speaks quite a bit.
“He’s got another four years ahead of him, that’s 16 Grand Slams. Is he going to win one or two more? 100 per cent. He could win at least five more. I think in my humble opinion, Djokovic will go down in the history books as the greatest of all time,” Leander signed off.
