Myneni was forced to pull out because of a foot injury. Bopanna was asked to step in, but he allegedly refused to pair up with Leander Paes.

Just a day ahead of the opening rubber of the first round Asia/Oceania group Davis Cup tie in Pune, India’s top ranked singles player Saketh Myneni was injured and substituted by last-minute replacement Vishnu Vardhan. However, Rohan Bopanna was the first name considered to partner Leander Paes in the doubles rubber on Saturday. Yet the top ranked doubles player from the country decided against competing in the tie.

The Indian Express spoke with Bopanna .
Excerpts:

Were you contacted by the AITA about playing against New Zealand?

I told them that I wanted something official before I could make any decision. How can I respond to them with a confirmation if they haven’t given me anything official? The team captain (Anand Amritraj) and captain (Zeeshan Ali) did not call me. I was contacted, but nothing official was eventually sent to me. I knew they would not send me an official letter, and they will be happy to blame the players for it.

Saketh Myneni was expected to play the doubles rubber with Leander Paes, and you were approached to replace Myneni.

They knew Saketh had been hurt for the past three weeks. The number one singles player in the country was not ready to play all three days. Initially they told me that Paes and I are not a good team, that we both play on the deuce court and so I wasn’t being selected. But now all of a sudden Paes and I are a good team. And they wanted three singles and one doubles player. So if a singles player is hurt then why call doubles player to replace him?

They had approached you as a desperate measure, an SOS call.

SOS does not happen if they knew for three weeks (that Myneni was injured). You take reserve players for that, to replace injured players. They could have taken six players (since it was a home tie), but they choose to take five, and just one doubles player. They could have picked Prajnesh Gunneswaran (reserve player) to play the tie. He’s right there. He has been practicing and he knows the conditions. First they wanted one doubles player and three singles. Now the captain wants two doubles players. It doesn’t make sense. It was a selection disaster, and now they are paying the price for it and it’s completely their fault.

Were you available to make it for the tie?

In December AITA sent me a mail asking if I was available and I said I was. But they never picked me. They wanted me to play now, but they didn’t give me any official letter or email. How difficult is it to send a mail with the technology these days?

The chairman of the selection committee, SP Misra did contact you though.

Yes, SP Misra did contact me on the phone. But if I came to Pune and they choose to take Prajnesh instead, then I can’t argue about why I came there. If I had something official with me then they couldn’t go back on their word
.
Do you reckon this might jeopardise any future selection?

It’ll be unfortunate if such politics stayed in the game. That’s why they need to fix up a proper system of selection. But if they select me, I’m happy to play. If they don’t, then I’m still playing on tour.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / Indian Express / Home> Express Sports> Tennis / by Shahid Judge, Pune / February 03rd, 2017