German flavour in Davis team?

Hilpert is half Indian, with a Khasi mother who resides in Shillong. His father worked in the German embassy when they met and got married. Hilpert, in his younger days, has spent a number of years in India and even held an Indian passport.

“I do come now and then to be with my mother but the tennis schedules are so busy that I cannot be with her for too long.” His father too stays in Shillong after having retired from the embassy. “I had a three-week lay-off from the circuit to be with my mother and was passing through Calcutta where I met Dushan Deo, the All-India Tennis Association supervisor.” Apparently, Deo asked him to play in the Bengal State Open and the National Grasscourt Championship, both of which he eventually won. Hilpert, till then, was not aware that playing on the Indian circuit would not be a problem as he was half-Indian.

“Basically, it was time off for me and I thought why not check out the Indian circuit,” he adds. He will play in Chandigarh too before leaving for the Australian Open. “I was ranked around 200 but as I haven’t played much for the past six months, my ranking fell to the 500s.”

Hilpert plays for Nurenberg Club on the German circuit. “Of course, there is nothing like playing in the Davis Cup, but then it is not too great pay-wise,” he continues. “I make a living by playing. Now I am 26 and have around three years of good tennis left. I have to make as much as I can in this period,” he explains the reason behind his indecisiveness. “If I am asked by the AITA, I will have to think a long time before I can take a decision.”

Hilpert, who spends around 42 weeks a year on the circuit, feels Indian players need to play more tournaments abroad. “They play among themselves and turn out in an international event once in six months. That is just not enough.” He feels their lack of experience showed at the National Grasscourt Championship. “They do not face players like me very often and that was the reason behind Natekar’s errors (in the final). He never expected me to return the way I did, and tried harder, thus making mistakes.” Although he isn’t a regular on the Indian circuit, he did not want to play the qualifiers before the National Grasscourt as is the ritual.

“That would have meant spending lesser time with my family.” The AITA relented and calculated his ATP points to make him the top seed for the tournament. “It worked perfectly. After all, Natekar and I played in final like it was supposed.”