Chennai: For Slovenian-born Brit Aljaz Bedene, 2016 was a year to forget. His dream of representing Britain in the Davis Cup didn’t become a reality in the wake of a rule change. Playing three dead rubbers for his native Slovenia made him ineligible to turn out for his adoptive country.
Although Bedene was in the top 50 at the end of 2015, his ranking plummeted beyond 100 the next year as he struggled to cope with the off-court stress related to his Davis Cup eligibility.
“The Davis Cup is important for me. I have been fighting for it for so long. I love team competitions. A month and a half ago, I played county tennis, which is a team competition. We always play for ourselves in tennis.
“When you get to play for a country and especially with a team, it’s a different feeling. It means a lot. I lost quite a lot of energy in fighting for it,” said Bedene who is here for the Chennai Open.
Bedene hopes 2017 will be his year after having made the cut for the main draw in both the Chennai Open and Australian Open after last-minute player withdrawals. “I stopped quite early last year to prepare for the new season. So it has been quite good; I have put in a lot of hard work,” he added.
According to Bedene, the field in Chennai isn’t the strongest in recent years after the withdrawal of defending champion Stan Wawrinka, who he calls the “usual winner.”
“There are a few dangerous players here and we will see what the draw brings,” the 27-year-old said. The Briton said his target for the new season would be to get into the top 30.
