By Ipsa Arora:
The banning of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna for two years by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) came as a shock last Saturday. Both of them had refused partnership with Leander Paes at the London Olympics 2012, as a consequence of which AITA had to team up Mahesh Bhupathi with Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes with Vishnu Vardhan. This led to an unfortunate end to the one time great relationship between Bhupathi and Paes. The AITA set up an executive committee to take this decision. Both Bhupati and Bopanna have been banned from playing in Davis Cup for the country till June 30, 2014. Now, Mahesh Bhupathi is considering taking a legal action against AITA. He hit back at the AITA on Tuesday claiming that it was using the divide-and-rule policy.
But, is banning such a great tennis player of India from important matches correct for the reputation of the Indian tennis? Bhupathi calls it the dirty politics on part of AITA. There is no option for the veteran tennis player but to accept the ban.
I personally believe that banning is not a solution to the conflict between the players. The AITA should have sat down with the players and discussed their issues taking into consideration the point of views of all three of them. Pairing an outstanding player like Leander Paes with a below average player served no good purpose at the Olympics 2012 hampering the reputation of the Indian tennis team. Splitting of the two most talented players of the country surely came as amazement to everybody but, things could have been improved if things were handled more sensibly by the players and AITA.
Conflicts between the top players and hence between Bhupathi and AITA has led to great disappointment for the Indian tennis and this should be settled down soon.