London: The crisis which has rocked the Indian tennis deepened as Rohan Bopanna officially refused to partner Leander Paes in London Olympics.
After Bhupathi’s stubborn refusal to team up with Paes, Bopanna’s stand has put All India Tennis Association (AITA) in a fix after it made the controversial decision to nominate the long-feuding Lee-Hesh for the Games next month.
Bopanna wrote to AITA this morning, making it clear that he cannot combine with Paes although it is his “dream to represent India in Olympics”, Times of India reports.
Bopanna said he was approached by the AITA with a request to pair with Paes as the AITA’s ‘second choice’ team.
“With all respect and humility, I have been unable to accept AITA’s offer and have communicated my decision to them in writing this morning,” Bopanna said in a statement.
The big-serving player, who is in demand from both Bhupathi and Paes for the London Games, also said that he and Paes do not make a good pair and their partnership is unlikely to yield any result.
“Since the beginning of the year, I have partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi towards playing together as at team at the Olympics. This was communicated to the AITA at every step and we were encouraged to continue to play together.
“Having played alongside Leander Paes only twice during my career, I recognise that as a team we are under-prepared for the demands of the Olympics and, in good faith, I could not accept AITA’s offer that we play together.”
Bopanna conceded that his decision would not go down well with many but he won’t risk his professional integrity for a shot at the Olympics.
Taking a dig a Paes, who broke his partnership with Bhupathi last year to stay inside ATP top-10 with a different partner, Bopanna said he also could have taken an easy route by continuing his team with Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi but did not do that.
“In October 2011, I broke up an extremely successful partnership with Aisam Qureshi as I believed that Olympics preparedness required hard work and understanding between partners and the numerous little adjustments that make a team work.
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