India were handed a 4-0 defeat against Sweden. Non-playing captain Rohit Rajpal spoke to the media after the match, with some of his views going viral on social media, especially the one where he says ‘Shut Up’ to the Indian Tennis community questioning him. Here’s the full press conference transcript:
Q) With all due respect to Siddharth (Vishwakarma), he played fantastic and all of us really, really enjoyed the match. We’d love to understand the thought process behind having 29 year old Siddharth in the dead rubber over 18 year old Aryan Shah, who could have got a lot of exposure playing in front of this crowd and with the pressure, with the future in mind?
Rohit Rajpal – So Siddharth has been around, he’s the current national champion, and he’s ranked higher. Both Manas (Dhamne) and Aryan have their whole career ahead of them. He’s got a chance today, may not have a chance again because there are many people ahead of him still. I’m hoping that he would improve.
The idea is to normally give a chance to a guy who’s been around for so long and waited for this opportunity and he got it today. And then a Davis Cup tag goes to him. He’s been raring to go throughout and some part of the team felt that he should have been played earlier as well. So I wanted give him a chance in the fourth rubber.
Q) In the last 24 hours or so, there has been some noise from the Indian tennis community. They’re wondering if the results might have been different if he had players with more elite-level tennis experience like Bhupathi, Somdev or Paes in the Captain’s role. How would you respond to that?
Rohit Rajpal – Since the time I took over, these guys have always been trying to say something negative to provoke or to get some reaction out of me. If my players feel otherwise, I’m a very open person. They are very welcome to say things. But I’m here for my country, ready to do whatever it takes. Even we were talking that during the Pakistan tie, my mother was in the ICU, but I was still on court.
So I’m here to do my national duties. To all these people, I want to say one thing today – SHUT UP. And second thing, if you really care that much, don’t sit in your air-conditioned rooms and talk. Get out here and show what you can do!
Q) Looking at the initial lineup, we were planning to play just two players (Ramanathan and Balaji) across all the five matches. What is your message to the All India Tennis Association (AITA) to work on the depth of Indian Tennis talent, so that we have more and more players who are ready to serve the nation?
Rohit Rajpal – That’s a bit of a debate we’ve been having. We started a program called the National Tennis Centre (NTC) a couple of years ago. I think AITA’s done well in terms of creating infrastructure and bringing tournaments to India. But I have always believed, ever since I got involved with the AITA, player development and help for players is where we have been lagging behind.
So we need a very good national program and sponsors for people to travel and coaches to work with the players round the year. Players who are playing currently, players who are waiting in the wings like Manas and Aryan, and maybe other 5-6 guys. That’s how every country over a period of time have developed players, from what I’ve seen. Look at China – they have 4 players in the Top 100. Why? Because there’s money being spent on them. There’s time and effort being made. All of that comes to India now.
There’s no dearth of talent in India. As you have seen, all these guys are supremely talented. What they can do with a tennis ball is amazing. This is the next gap we want to plug as the All India Tennis Association (AITA).
(Cover Photo – Patrick Bengtsson)