Leander Paes has made us proud to be Indian many, many times. He wore his heart on his sleeve when he has played for the country, he has gone beyond the ordinary so many times in the Davis Cup that anything less was simple unacceptable. He liked to put on a show. He liked the drama. He liked playing… and winning for India.
How else does one explain Atlanta? How else does one explain his victories over Wayne Ferriera, Goran Ivanisevic, Henri Leconte and Arnaud Boestch (on clay in France), Jacob Hlasek, Jan Seimerink in the Davis Cup? All players he would have and has lost to miserably on the ATP circuit.
There was something superhuman about Paes when he stepped up to play for India in the Davis Cup. With the partisan crowd cheering him on, he was a player transformed. When the writer Rohit Brijnath once asked him how he managed to raise his game several notches, his answer was more than apt.
“I judged myself on how I performed in the Davis Cup. On that Friday-Saturday-Sunday there were no limits in my mind. If I believe strongly enough, it will be done. But I kept looking at the Davis Cup. Once a tie was over, I’d be looking three months down the road to the next tie. I just didn’t care enough about the tour. But in India, Davis Cup is the most important thing, and I love playing for my country.”
Ageing superstar
That was the truth then and perhaps still is. Paes still loves playing for India and if he has his way, he would probably never stop. But still playing for India is an honour earned – not by what you have done in the past but by your current deeds.
So when the 43-year-old Paes was not selected for the Davis Cup squad for the first time in 27 years, there was a definite tinge of sadness. You do wish that your heroes got the send-off they deserve; the send-off they have earned.
But team sport can be very brutal on the ageing superstar. The experience is there but the body just doesn’t move the way he used to. And before you know it, the younger lot creeps up on you (though in India’s case, the creeping rate would do a sloth proud) and suddenly, you are history.
Most players accept this passing of the baton. They did it to someone; someone will do it to them. It is the way things are – in life and otherwise. But somehow, Paes just doesn’t get it.
When the non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi didn’t pick him, Paes was angry. That much was apparent. But if he truly did love playing for the country, shouldn’t he have stuck around and supported his team-mates? Instead, he took off in the middle of the tie against Uzbekistan.
In the end, it comes down to a matter of principle. Paes believed he should have made the squad. Bhupathi went by the rankings and didn’t pick him. India’s sports minister Vijay Goel has promised to step in and resolve the tiff but to a majority watching the entire episode play out, the overwhelming feeling was one of antipathy.
Sense of entitlement
The sense of entitlement Paes has seems misplaced. Too often you see organisations treating a few people differently for whatever reason and it’s a problem. Great players often have to sit out for the greater good of the team. Great players have also had to sit out towards the fag end of their careers. Great players don’t remain great forever.
Maybe Paes’s reaction has more to do with the fear of never again feeling the highs that have sustained him. The rope is at an end… he knows it. It drives him to be irrational, emotional and maybe even wrong.
When there’s a guy who talks about himself all day long, you start to get the sense that he doesn’t listen real well. You always wonder… ‘has he gotten over himself.’ Sadly, it seems like Paes stopped listening to the rest of the team. He has become all about ‘me’ and less about the team.
Some might say that perhaps Bhupathi could have been more accommodating – he could have given Paes that doubles game, the record and mended ties… all at the same time. But then what is the message he would have sent out to the younger players in the team?
Indeed, what is the message that Paes sends out to India? Should we, as a people, feel bad that he didn’t get his record or should we accept it as being part of the sporting life? The record or India… what comes first? Being able to enjoy someone else’s success is a huge thing and in his moment of weakness, Paes showed that he matters more than the team. That alone should be a reason to not pick him.
At some point, perhaps Paes’s anger will turn to remorse. It should. He could have handled this better. The same could hold true for Bhupathi too but in these moments, they lose far more than just our respect. They lose themselves.