Tougher challenges will help improve unity in team: Paes

Veteran tennis star Leander Paes today said unity in the Indian Davis Cup team was improving and the camaraderie among players will be better when they will face tougher challengers in the 2014 Davis Cup campaign.
Paes and Sanam Singh won today's double rubber to seal the relegation play-off tie against Indonesia.
"The atmosphere in the team was phenomenal. I still think the camaraderie will keep getting better as we get into more tougher ties at the World Group playoffs, quarterfinals and semifinals. Don't forget our dream is to win a Davis Cup. That is what we really started playing for," Paes, who played his 50th Davis Cup tie, told reporters.

Paes said the Indian tennis has gone through a lot in last year-and-a-half and it would probably take about another year before things could calmed down.
"For anybody, at the end of the day the game is bigger than all of us. At the end of the day, the country is more important than all of us. So it is our responsibility as much as we have the freedom of speech to do what we want. It is our responsibility to go and play for the country and play for each other," he said.
Paes said he won't be there for a long time and it is upto the young turks to have the Davis Cup Trophy, saying there was not much difference between the present team and the 1993 team, which reached the semifinals.

"I think it was just a matter of unity that was there back in 1993 and the unity that is coming back now. That is one of the things that the leaders of this team really have to do. They have to bring the team together," he said adding that the present team is like a rough diamond, needing polishing.
Paes said India never had two guys in top 50s or 100s to really boast of, but the team has always fought well.