Scythed by Tomas Berdych — the contest was non-existent — Somdev Devvarman admitted he committed far too many errors and specified that the offcourt issues hardly affected him. “The off-court issues had nothing to do with my performance on the court. Whatever happens off it, happens there. I don’t take that into the court. The reason for my defeat was that I played poorly and you can’t do that against a player of his calibre,” he said.
Right from the start, Devvarman was rickety. “I was tentative to start with and I was missing a lot of balls. It was one-day off, but even if I had been at my best I wouldn’t have beaten him. I tried to fight my back, but the fight wasn’t there. It was a terrible off-day. I’m glad that I won the first round and played a top-10 player. I’m a realistic person and will try to rectify the shortcomings. I had a big injury layoff last year and it isn’t to feel your way back,” he said.
Meanwhile, he informed that the All India Tennis Association hasn’t replied to his mail. “No they haven’t. I haven’t heard from them. It is their problem. We are going to continue dealing with them the way we do with them. I just wanted to fix a few problems that have been there. It’s difficult staying away from it. Our goal is to make it better,” he stressed.
He reckons this an obligation. “I think it was my obligation to inform people that things are not functioning in the proper way. It was a collective matter. It wasn’t about me, but other players as well. At this point of my career, there is no point in staying back. Like I said it is similar to my game and I recognise things and work to improve them and 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. We just hope that is going to happen,” he said.