Leander neglected his singles 8212; Ramesh

THIRUSSUR, JANUARY 19: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi may be the role models for the youth in Indian tennis but the exploits of Ramesh K...

THIRUSSUR, JANUARY 19: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi may be the role models for the youth in Indian tennis but the exploits of Ramesh Krishnan and Vijay Amritraj in singles still linger like fixed deposits.

Krishnan, who was once ranked No 23 in the world 8212; still the best for an Indian in singles 8212; has Paes at second place in rankings 75. 8220;I feel Leander neglected his singles and that was why he could not come up. He is better than what his ranking suggests,8221; observed Krishnan, who was in Thrissur recently to select the Indian Davis Cup team to play Lebanon in February.

Krishnan said he did not have direct experience in watching today8217;s youngsters in action as they formed a different league and so he was not qualified to comment on their strengths. 8220;Basically, I am here to pick the national team and I had watched one of the youngsters who got the nod here Sunil Kumar. He played a good match against Agenor in the Gold Flake Open in Chennai.,8221; he said.

8220;Generally, it is boring to watch the juniors if they play their equals in age. I would like to see them play in a group that is four years above them. Sunil was outstanding in this respect,8221; he added.

Krishnan said Lebanon was a 8220;bit of an unknown quantity8221; but stressed that the match would be played on grass.

Nandan Bal, a selector now, felt it was a bit too early to expect rewards for the efforts the Indian organisers have been taking in recent years. 8220;Just wait for three or four years, our singles scenario will be quite better. We have just started having enough international ranking tournaments here and it will take some time for the results to show,8221; he explained.

8220;During our time, we had to spend from our own pockets to go in search of ranking tournaments abroad as we hardly had one or two of them here. Now, there are 30 to 40 ATP events in India which makes it one of the most active places in Asia for tennis,8221; Bal reasoned.

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Bal is of the view that the best talents in the recent times has emerged from Maharashtra and this is reflected in the rankings.