Zeeshan Ali on Wednesday announced that he has resigned as India coach, insisting that it was time to focus on the development of the National Tennis Centre (NTC). Zeeshan had replaced Nandan Bal as India’s Davis Cup coach in 2013 when the country’s top players had revolted against AITA, demanding better playing conditions, and refused to play against Korea in New Delhi. The 54-year-old Zeeshan captained the country in the historic tie against Pakistan, which India won in Islamabad early this year with regular skipper Rohit Rajpal missing the assignment due to personal reasons.
“I felt that now was a good time to give my resignation as the coach of the Davis Cup team. Because, after having been captain, I wanted to end my association as coach of the Davis Cup team on a high. I gave my resignation day before yesterday,” Zeeshan told PTI.
During Zeeshan’s tenure, he worked with SP Mishra, Mahesh Bhupathi, Anand Amritraj and current captain Rohit Rajpal.
Zeeshan, son of former Davis Cup coach Akhtar Ali, said it was not a decision that was taken in haste.
“I played Davis Cup for over nine years, I have been coach of the Davis Cup team for 11 years and then captained the side as well. I don’t think there is any such person from any country who has had the privilege and honour of doing all these three things.” Zeeshan, during his tenure, was not paid for his role many a times as per AITA system, but that was not the reason for his decision.
“Captain Rohit Rajpal insisted that I stay on. I have been coaching the Davis Cup team all these years and many times I never got paid for it. But money was never the reason why I was working with the team. For us, representing India holds a completely different meaning.
“According to the AITA, there’s no official contract as such that the coach needs to get paid. I was doing it purely for the love of the sport, purely because I wanted to be associated with the team and purely because I wanted to help our young players and represent India again. For me, it has also been a privilege and an honour to represent India.
AITA secretary-general Anil Dhupar said Zeeshan was being paid sufficiently as NTC Director.
“We have accepted his resignation. He did it for 10 years. He was being paid for NTC, so additional payment was not made to him,” Dhupar said.
Zeeshan said he was “not closing any doors” as far as the Davis Cup is concerned.
“If the AITA wants my help or needs me to step in any way possible for Davis Cup, I’m always available for that.
“I felt that I needed to focus on the other things or prospects and plans that the AITA has going forward as far as the National Tennis Centre is concerned.
“It’s not just a question of 2-3 weeks of Davis Cup competition. It’s a question of keeping track of the players’ performance through the year, communicating with them and that goes beyond just 2-3 weeks.
“That’s how I have operated over these many years. In all these years, there has never been a situation where the federation or the players have come and said that they need a replacement.
“Giving my resignation is not something that just happened at the spur of the moment. This is something I’ve been thinking about.
“My whole focus is on NTC. You will be hearing about that also in the coming weeks as well; about the plans that the AITA has as far as the NTC is concerned. So, that will require a lot more of my time and focus into making sure that the programme runs properly into making sure that the programme starts to produce the next generation of champions, and that’s where my focus and energy is going to be now.”
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