Rohit Rajpal rallies after Davis Cup defeat remarks row

INDIA’S non-playing Davis Cup captain Rohit Rajpal last Saturday (2) clarified that his “shut up” remark was meant for a few “agenda-driven” people targeting him and was not directed at the country’s tennis community as has been projected.

Rajpal said people questioning his credentials as Davis Cup captain should do a bit of research, and he was not someone who would cling to the position in the face of resistance from players.

He asserted it was not necessary that only an accomplished player could become a good coach and guarantee the success of the national team. To drive home his point, he said that some extremely successful players did not boast reputed names in their support staff.

The controversy came about after India lost 4-0 to Sweden in the previous Davis Cup tie in Stockholm, and he told his critics to “shut up”.

Rajpal, 54, admitted that he should not have reacted after being provoked during the media interaction, adding that his sharp reaction was an outcome of the frustration he felt after defeat in front of a good number of Indian supporters.

“I am myself the Indian tennis community. I’m part of the association, I’m part of so many things. My life has been tennis. I can never even dream of something like this, to say ‘shut up’ to the Indian community. Why would I do that?” Rajpal told the PTI news agency.

“I would never think of disrespecting somebody like that, but I should have not reacted to those three or four guys, to be very honest. But the question was asked in such a bad manner and that too in front of my team sitting next to me, I felt humiliated.”

Rajpal said he knew the people who wanted him out, but he would not make their names public.

“What I really felt bad about was that one person creates a narrative in a wrong way and that carries through, and nobody even bothers to go back and see the tape, go into details,” he said, clarifying that the question was not asked on behalf of the Indian tennis community but his “haters”.

Rajpal took over captaincy in 2019 when the then skipper Mahesh Bhupathi chose not to travel to Pakistan due to security concerns.

At the time of his appointment and during his tenure, his credentials were questioned. He has played only one Davis Cup tie in his career – a dead rubber against Korea in 1990.

However, he was part of the bronze medal-winning team at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing.

So does he feel that he deserves to be leading India in the Davis Cup?

“Whether I deserve to be there or not is not a decision I would like to justify. That is in the hands of the executive committee, which is supreme,” he said. “There are enough people who know tennis there. They have been in sports administration since we were kids, so I’m sure they take a balanced decision.

“The second area is my players. The day I feel that my players think somebody else will do a better job, I am the first one to walk out myself. I don’t need to be told to go. I am ready to walk out even today.”

As the discussion turned towards his own career as a player, Rajpal said he was a perfect example of “what not to do”.

“I had to quit because I slipped two discs in the back. Before that I’ve beaten some very good players. I’ve played at the top level. Nobody can take that away from me. I’m an Asian Games medallist,” he said.

“I’m an Asian champion as well but I’ve never chosen to speak about it because I don’t want to blow my own trumpet. I come from the batch of players who always said, let your racket do the talking.

“Mahesh Bhupati and Somdev [Devvarman], when they were playing, they recommended my name and put a condition with AITA [All India Tennis Association] that I be the captain.”

Rajpal said he overtrained due to lack of guidance and that cut short his career. He beat Indian star Leander Paes a number of times, and lost some very close matches to greats such as Wayne Ferreira and Tim Henman.

“I had one bad habit when I look back, which cost me my career. I was getting up at 5am and running 20 kilometers on the road.

“In those days, we did not have good cushioned shoes. We had a local shoe [firm] that sponsored me. And I ran with that shoe seven days a week. Every day of my life, I ran 20 kilometers on the road to build endurance.

“And obviously, I’m a good example of – as my coaches say – that I did not know when to stop. I stopped only when it got dark. I only believed that hard work would take me through.”

He recalled the time when he challenged some of the world’s higher ranked players. “I had the good fortune of training in Sweden and in Harry Hoffman’s in Tampa, Florida. I was training at that time with Jim Courier and he was a slugger. And, after a full day, he would leave and I would still train two hours after he left, only to get better than him.

“I over-trained. And that’s how my career ended very quickly. At 19, 20, I was already a guy with two slipped discs in my back and a very bad left leg. Wayne Ferrera, when I played him, he was number 11 in the world in ATP [ranking]. That was a close match.

“Tim Henman, again, a top player and I don’t need to tell his credentials to you. It was a very close match, I lost the third set tie-breaker.

“And I don’t blame some people for not being able to know these things. Like I said, people don’t research any more. People don’t look at things indepth any more. People look at things only from the surface, right? And that is the sad part.

“I’m not trying to justify, you know, or trying to blow my trumpet. But I played at a world-class level myself. And nothing or nobody can take that away from me.”