It is a wonder Omar Behroozian – almost two decades after playing his first Davis Cup match for the UAE in 1996 – can stay motivated for national duty.
Tennis around him has been stuck in a time warp and yet he soldiers on. He is 33 and his Davis Cup captain, Mahmoud Nader, is 35 next month, but last week in Bahrain, they played most of the rubbers in the Davis Cup Group IV Asia-Oceania tournament.
Behroozian, who has a 52-24 career singles record in Davis Cups, played and won each of his five singles and appeared in four of the UAE’s five doubles, winning two.
His efforts were not enough to help UAE gain promotion to Group III, however, as they lost in the play-off to Pacific Oceania.
The result means the UAE will remain in Group IV for a second consecutive season, the first time since 2009/10. Behroozian was five years younger then and the way things are, he could be playing on for another five, or even more.
Abdullah Ahli and Fares Janahi, age 17 and 16 respectively, were part of the UAE team in Bahrain but need a few years’ experience before they can be handed over the mantle.
Hamad Janahi, Abdulrahman Janahi and Soud Al Ali have also played Davis Cup in recent times.
Tennis is not really overflowing with talent in the Emirates at present and that should be seen as a disappointment for a country that hosts one of the top tournaments on the ATP and WTA calendar.
Every February we hear about the plans for UAE tennis and the progress being made, but there seems to be little evidence of that at the Davis Cup.
Tennis in the UAE needs a bit more than lip service at the moment.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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