Two people the Bangalore crowd would have loved to see in action in the ongoing Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group I play-off tie against Indonesia were in the stands on Friday – Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna.

Not picked by the All India Tennis Federation, the duo, however, chose to cheer Somdev Devvarman and Co from the stands.

“Just to have Davis Cup here after 28 years is special for the State,” Bopanna told reporters. “It does a lot for tennis here. You know, it’s good that we have such a big event here. I’m happy that I was in town, and could watch the boys play.”

“If you are part of the Davis Cup for the last 10 years, you’re going to miss being part of the team. Sure to say, I would have loved to play this one. I met the entire team just now, but I met Som(dev) and Sanam (Singh) earlier in the week. We had a round of golf.”

Two days ago, Bopanna decided to renew his partnership with Bhupathi for the season ahead, choosing to call off the three-month association with Rajeev Ram. “The thought came up suddenly. Till the Miami Masters I was with Rajeev. Since Rajeev’s ranking is 48, and cut off at Monte Carlo is 49 (combined ranking), there’s no way we could get in. I had to either find a different partner for every week in Masters’ events and play with Rajeev only in the Grand Slams.

“It so happened that (Daniel) Nestor was playing with Robert (Lindstedt) and Mahesh was looking for a partner. We had done well last year, so it was easy to make the choice. We plan to play the entire season,” added Bopanna.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> Sports / DHNS, Bangalore / April 06th, 2013