New Delhi - India's Davis Cup players have refused to play under captain Leander Paes, demanding that he be sacked for undermining team morale and running the players down, a newspaper reported Sunday. The development is as a setback to India's preparations for the Beijing Olympics, following Paes' criticism and benching of Prakash Amritraj during a Davis Cup match against Uzbekistan earlier this month, the Times of India.
All India Tennis Association Secretary Anil Khanna confirmed that he had received a letter signed by four players including Amritraj, Rohan Bopanna, Karan Rastogi and Paes's former doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi.
The players said they had lost confidence in Paes' leadership, and criticized him for repeatedly running them down in the media.
"We are not prepared to play Davis Cup if Leander is the captain. Sorry it had to come to this but until now we did not have the courage to say anything and it has only gone from bad to worse," the letter said.
"Playing Davis Cup for India is our greatest joy. We live for these ties, and through the year we prepare ourselves so we can peak for these occasions," Amritraj told the Times. "He (Paes) has basically killed that joy for us," he said.
Other media reports said that the players were upset about the overbearing influence of Paes.
Former India tennis players said that the AITA should resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
"It is of serious concern considering that we have the Davis Cup tie against Japan coming up. This matter needs to be resolved between the players and Paes," India's former Davis Cup player Shyam Minotra told the NDTV network.
