New Delhi: CNN-IBN's Associate Editor (sports), Digvijay Singh Deo got hold of the email sent from Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi to Anil Khanna, the All-India Tennis Association president dated March 9, 2012, in which the tennis pair requested that they should be nominated for the 2012 London Olympics in the doubles category.
Below is the full text of the email.
Attn: Anil Khanna
Secretary, All India Tennis Association
March 9 2012
Dear Sir,
Trust this letter finds you in the best of health, As you are already aware and more recently brought to light by the media, there are constant questions on which team or teams will represent India at the Olympics in the men’s doubles this year. With the April 2nd deadline for Tennis Associations to submit their entry endorsed by the National Olympic Committee drawing near we felt it is prudent for us to write to both you and allthe people involved in the selection process so you’ll know what has transpired in the last few months.
Leander and Mahesh were having a successful season on tour in 2011 where they won 3 titles, including 2 masters series events and reached the final of the Australian Open, at the end of October last year, Leander broke off this partnership with Mahesh saying that he doesn’t believe at their respective ages, they are able to compete at the highest level, however he still wanted to play the grass court season and the Olympics together with Mahesh. Having no choice, Mahesh, spoke to Rohan to play together this year and learnt that Leander had already committed to playing the 2012 season including the Olympics with him. When Rohan and Mahesh went on to compare notes it was apparent Leander had made similar commitments to them both, which was clearly unacceptable and left them confused. Not wanting to get into playing game/politics, Mahesh and Rohan decided to play together and see how they can gel on court together.
As you can imagine, we have set many goals for ourselves, which include representing our country at the Olympics, we knew we would have initial hiccups since we were experimenting on who would play the deuce side but over the last 3 weeks we seem to have found a combination that has taken us to back to back semi final in Marseille and title in Dubai.
We have known each other for twelve years now and besides being doubles partners are friends and colleagues; we have built a team including coach and a trainer and continue to work single-mindedly towards our Goal of winning a medal at the Olympics in London. Our games bring a lot of power to the doubles court and with the Olympics being on grass we feel our games would be suited for that surface.
I think India is fortunately in a unique position today where we can nominate two doubles teams to play in London. However when you have the herculean task of winning a medal for your country every aspect on and off the tennis court counts, the tennis, the team work, the camaraderie, the willingness to fight for each other for every point makes a difference and this is what we have together,
It is important for the selection committee to know that there is ZERO chemistry or communication between Leander and Mahesh or Leander and Rohan, Both Leander and Mahesh have played four Olympics together, three of them under strained relations and it is pretty apparent to see that the results haven’t been with the country has hoped for, needless to say that sending in a team to the Olympics without any preparation is not only not the right choice for the country but the worst choice for India.
An additional reminder, if a player is in the top 10 as of the June 11 rankings, They have the luxury of an entry into the competition with an player with an ATP point as long as the Association has nominated them, if players are not ranked in the top 10, there will be a cut off like every week and they need to be inside that, last Olympics the cut off was close to 60 in the combined ranking. So as you can see gaining an entry into the doubles for us in not an issue as long as you can nominate us as one of your two teams playing in London. Any information you need you can get from www.itftennis.com/olympics
We would like to conclude by saying that we have always given our best when we played for the country individually, When Anil called Mahesh a few days ago about the selection issues for the up coming tie, he said you have to do what’s best for the team. We have never compromised on what is best for the country and never will. However we do feel that some members of selection committee will be taking this decision without knowing the entire story and it was important for us to voice what has transpired so you’ll can make an educated decision on why we would be best with each other. Thanks for your patience and time. If any of you need to speak to us or have any clarifications please feel free to call us.
Best Regards
Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna
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