Chennai: Somdev Devvarman on Thursday said that his ongoing feud with the All India Tennis Association had nothing to do with the straight sets loss to world number six Tomas Berdych in the second round of the Chennai Open here. "May be you would not have seen me as stressed in seeing the guy, who is six in the world. I do not think that stress has got anything to do with my today's performance," Somdev said.
"For that matter, whatever is going on off the court is not really affecting me. It is just the fact that it was a poor performance. There is no question that he is a far superior player. I have to improve and keep working hard," he added.
The player, who has suggested some sweeping changes in the organisation of Davis Cup ties in the country, admitted that his performance was bad. "I agree that it was a very bad performance by me. Unfortunately it happened over here. I was happy that I got my first round win and there is no denying that I am lacking in matches right now.
"[It was] definitely not my best tennis today. Having said that, I do not think even best tennis could have been good enough. The guy is playing well and he is confident and he is a good player. Hopefully, such performances will not happen in the future," he said.
Asked if there was any boycott threats by players even if the demands are not met by AITA, Somdev said, "Honestly speaking, as far as the players are concerned, we kept this highly professional and we are keeping this between us and the association. "Unfortunately, they do not see it like that. It is their problem. We are going to continue dealing with them the way we do with them."
Somdev said rather than pointing fingers at anyone, his intention was to fix the problems. "I have not heard from them (AITA) since I had the meeting. I see few of the guys here all the time and we are very cordial with each other and I have no problem with them. I am not a guy that I confront and point fingers at people. I just want to fix problems.
"Like I said it is similar to my game and recognise things and work to improve them... not to ignore the actual problems that is going to help me improve. Unfortunately it is not affecting me but a lot of other players are affected. Like I said our goal is to make things better for everybody else. We just hope that is going to happen."
Asked what prompted him to write to AITA, he said, "Like I said, try and make things better for everybody. I think it is my obligation to inform people when I feel like things are not up to par in my opinion. That is what I did. I thought it was a collective problem and there was an easy answer to it.
"At this point of my life it is not sitting down and not taking responsibility. Honestly speaking that is what I want to do like I play my part, I think I owe that to myself and other team-mates and to the country as well. All of us are putting great efforts and try our best. I think it is only fair that everybody else does that too."
When asked to specify what exactly he found unprofessional in AITA, Somdev said, "Like I pointed out I do not want to point fingers and make this ugly as already it is, you know. My intention is not to blame people. Just want to make the whole thing better. Hopefully it gets to that point.
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