Although his career never touched dizzying heights, Somdev Devvarman earned the admiration of his fellow professionals on the tennis circuit for his gumption and resolve. Devvarman's career best ranking of 62 is the best for an Indian men's singles player since Ramesh Krishnan was ranked 23 in 1985. In this wide-ranging interview with ESPN after announcing his retirement, Devvarman reflects on the reasons for his decision to leave the game at the relatively young age of 31, his standout memories as a professional player and the problems afflicting Indian tennis.
Why did you make the decision to retire at 31?
It was just the right time. I had spent a lot of time on the tour and just felt it was the right time to hang up my boots.
There's been a lot of talk of injuries over the last few years that have plagued you. What has been so difficult to overcome?
Nothing really. I have read a few people saying that I have been plagued by injuries but I really haven't. There have been a few niggles here and there but nothing too substantial to stop playing. The reason to stop playing wasn't so much to do with injuries. Little injuries happen to every player here and there but nothing serious at all. The only serious problem I really had was at the end of 2011 with my shoulder but apart from that I have been pretty injury free my whole career.
So have you felt that over the last couple of years you have lacked the motivation to play on?
It is fair to say that as an athlete one of my biggest weapons was my fight and hunger. The way I played, with so much passion, I think that was the biggest reason for me having any success on the tour. I felt that kind of diminished a little bit over the years. It became a lot harder for me to play at that level without that kind of fight. It is one of those things in life that you can't fake, it is either there or not. In the last few years some of the best results I had were in the Davis Cup because I felt I was playing for a little something extra. On the regular tour it was a little dry, not as exciting and a few things from the past weren't quite there. One of the reasons I wanted to continue playing was to be in the top-100 and compete in the Slams against the best players and I realised that I could not be in the top-100 if I was like that. Once I realised that it was the right time to stop.
Do you look back on your career with some regrets? Do you feel you missed opportunities to achieve some bigger things?
No real regrets. One thing I was known for is the amount of fight I had, I was very hard working, fought every match as hard as I could. That's basically how my career has been. One of the things I would have liked to do is win a tour event but I lost two finals. Maybe I could have done a little bit better for India in the Davis Cup but when I started playing, we had three doubles players and me. Rohan (Bopanna) used to play unbelievable matches and pull some matches out to get us into the World Group. I feel like I gave it everything I had, was always very professional and made the right decisions for my career.
What would you say was the high point of your professional career?
I think one of the most rewarding things for me was when I came back from that real bad shoulder injury. I went through surgery which was absolute hell. By the end of 2013 I was named as one of the comeback players of the year, nominated by the tour, alongside Rafa (Nadal). I finished the year in the top-100. Coming back from surgery is one of the toughest things to do and mine was pretty serious. To come back from that, was one of the most fulfilling things. You have setbacks along the way and to make it back especially in today's tennis world where it is so competitive. That was one of the things I am very happy about.
Is there a moment from your Davis Cup career that stands out as your most memorable?
Tough to pinpoint one, I have had a few. In 2009, playing in South Africa, I was down two sets to love and a break in the third. Coming back and winning that against a good friend (Rik de Voest), we had the same coach at the time so coming back and winning that was one of the best memories for me. I was chatting yesterday with Anand (Amritraj) and he was telling me that I was 6-2 win-loss under his captaincy which is a pretty good record. Winning two away matches in Korea was a lot of fun as well, to beat them on their home turf. One of my favourite ones was beating (Janko) Tipsarevic in Serbia when he was top-20 and in straight sets, that was one of my best wins in Davis Cup.
How would you like to stay involved in tennis? Any plans to get into coaching?
Nothing very concrete yet. I am in touch with all the players on the tour, both in India and abroad. I am still weighing a lot of my options, see what I want to do, find out what I am really interested in and how I want to move forward in my own future. I am pretty confident to say that it will be in sport, I don't know if it will be in Indian tennis or professional tennis or in what capacity. I have a lot of interest in the general sports scene in India and to enhance that will be one of my dreams. Let's take things one step at a time. Hopefully I will be ready for the next step whenever it comes.
You were the last Indian to make a splash on the singles circuit. Do you feel a bit disconsolate looking at the lack of progress Indians are making on the singles front?
I don't really want to diss all my colleagues over here, everyone is doing the best they can do. That being said, they are all coming out of a pretty c****y system. The system in India is really bad, all the players coming up do so despite it, not because of it. In my opinion I haven't seen anybody from the administrator's side who has made a positive impact on Indian tennis in a long time. There is no real continuing, proper experience or guidance and all the players just usually use other players to get feedback or information or help on the tour here and there. I think that is pretty sad and until that changes you are not going to see players being churned out because our system currently really lacks professionalism.
And finally, how damaging have the controversies been over the years that you have been around? One of your great achievements has been not to be involved in too many of these controversies!
(Laughs). When I started playing there was a whole conflict between Leander (Paes) and Mahesh (Bhupathi) that hasn't ceased till date I guess. I was very clear to both of them in the beginning that I wasn't there to pick sides and whatever they had to do they were welcome to go ahead and do it as long as it didn't involve me. Over the years my friendship with both Leander and Mahesh has grown and I think all of us have mutual respect for each other. I was never interested in controversy or the off-court politics or the sensational news that a lot of people I feel are drawn towards. That kind of lifestyle was never appealing to me. For me it was all about working hard, doing the right things, being a normal human being and just trying to grow as a person.