March 25 (IANS) For years, the Davis Cup has been a vanguard of team competition in tennis -- a sport that has thrived on individual excellence and has promoted and cherished solo efforts on a tough circuit in the Open Era. The players have been so individualistic that many times they have sacrificed team competitions for individual glory. Still, the competition has seen legends like Arthur Ashe, Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Stephen Edberg, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic representing their respective countries in the mega event that is into its 114th edition.

This preference to individual efforts and dreams has resulted in the Davis Cup -- in its latest format -- being reduced to a two-day effort with matches cut down to best-of-three encounters from the previous best-of-five. The nostalgic experience of home and away ties on different surfaces, too, has been shunned and replaced by an eight-team Finals played in the caravan format.

However, despite these changes, Indian tennis legend Rohan Bopanna says the Davis Cup has not lost its charm and still attracts huge crowds, like during the India v Netherlands World Group First Round tie in Bengaluru a few months back. India, a three-time finalist in Davis Cup, defeated the Netherlands and has qualified for a clash with South Korea, with the winner of that match making it to the Finals.

Bopanna said India's recent success against the Netherlands has once again sparked interest in the Davis Cup, and the match has attracted huge crowds.

In an exclusive interview with IANS, fecilitated by ASICS India, Bopanna also discussed his retired life, his work with the Rohan Bopanna Tennis Development Foundation, which he is in the process of developing into a high-level Centre of Excellence, and the current scene in international tennis circuit, which is witnessing another enduring rivalry between Carlos Alacaraz and Jannik Sinner, the top two ranked players in the world.

Excerpts:

IANS) How has life been for you since retiring from tennis? How difficult was the regular play-travel-train-play routine?

Bopanna: I think it's been fabulous that I'm happy living out of a cupboard rather than a suitcase, to be honest, and enjoying family time. You know I've never really been spending so much time at home with family, especially having a daughter now growing. It's really nice to be at home, so I'm enjoying that as well.

IANS) How is your plan for developing your academy into a high-performance center for Indian players progressing?

Bopanna: I think the vision is to build a high performance center and we are slowly getting there but what I want to try and build is a good structure first and you know no matter who comes in from wherever or whichever part of the world, they come into our academy they know there is a proper structure to become serious tennis players and this is what we want to create not only with tennis coaches but strength and conditioning, the mental aspects, the physios, the nutritionists and also experienced people guiding these players. That is where I feel being a tennis player makes a difference to have someone who has played for over 20 years at the highest level, and to guide them in this journey, and having a coach such as Balachandran, with 35 years of experience, is what I think brings the team a solid base to guide all these players through.

IANS) What do you think is up ahead for Indian tennis in the next few years? Can we see anyone continuing with the legacy created by Lee-Hesh?

Bopanna: I think it's a tough shoe to fill straight away. We still have a long way to go. We have definitely had the potential, and now with good government support, corporate support, everyone coming through, and a lot of tournaments happening in India, I think we definitely have a good chance to get on a similar pathway. Still, the main thing is to have and sustain a structure like this for a long period of time.

IANS) Can we have another Grand Slam winner in the next 10 years?

Bopanna: Yeah. You know, because if you look at the current guys we've been supporting from the Davos Dream of India with Yuki Bambri, Balaji, Vikram, Arjun, and a few I mean you know so many of them you know part of this program and they've been already in the top 100 you know playing their Grand Slams and yeah it's definitely possible.

IANS) The Davis Cup format too has changed totally, so you think this has taken the charm out of the team event?

Bopanna: No, I don't think so; it's taken that charm out. Yes, it's only played in two days and best of three sets now. So, it becomes obviously much tougher. It doesn't give you leverage to kind of start slow and then try to get back into the match you need to be up and ready to play at that level and Indian Davis Cup team last few times has been playing remarkably well and beating the Netherlands in Bangalore was phenomenal and to have that kind of support in Bangalore for the Indian team was really lovely to see and even me for it had been a long period of time since I had been in a home tie with having that kind of support so it's really nice to see that Bangalore coming through to supporting these players and making a difference.

IANS) Tennis has always thrived on rivalry. From the times of Borg-McEnroe to Sampras-Agassi to Federer-Nadal. What are your views on the current rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner? Can this rivalry join the enduring ones like those in the past?

Bopanna: I mean, we have definitely seen that it's possible, you know, the way they've been playing tennis, clearly they've been stepping it up every single time. They play each other at every single grand slam, and this rivalry is what makes the sport exciting. I mean, without this rivalry, we don't have many people following it, and this is what you need, and it's been fantastic that these guys have built this rivalry, and you know, youngsters are picking up to watch the sport and enjoy tennis, and a lot of my friends’ their young kids want to travel and watch grand slam. They keep asking me which is the best one they can go to. So clearly there's a big interest in it, which is nice.

--IANS

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