Chennai: Former Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj today criticised Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi for skipping the on-going ATP Chennai Open, saying the star players should support such home events.
"Country comes first when playing in events like Davis Cup and Federation cup and quadrangular games like Asian and Olympic Games and when you play with Indian flags around there is no substitute for that feeling. "Every Indian (player) should extend support to home events like this (Chennai Open)," Amritraj told reporters here.
Paes and Bhupathi won three successive Chennai Open titles from 1997 to 1999. While Bhupathi last played in the tournament in 2005, pairing with Swedish Jonas Bjorkman to finish as runners-up, Paes last appearance at the elite event was in 2006 with Czech player Martin Damm. Amritraj also suggested that Bhupathi and Paes should start playing together to be well prepared before the Beijing Olympics. "They have been the best in the world at one point of time. They have been there, done that. But yes, you do not want to be rusty when you get there (Olympics). So it will be nice if they play a few tournaments together," he said.
