India, Oct. 27 -- When Chintan Parikh, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) interim president, and Rohit Rajpal, a candidate for AITA presidency, called Mahesh Bhupathi and conveyed their mutual feeling about him signing up for AITA's Sportsperson of Outstanding Merit (SOM) elections, Bhupathi thought, "Maybe it's time to see if I can get in and make a difference".

The Indian tennis great has decided to contest for the SOM polls on November 7, for both the General Body and Executive Committee of AITA. It signals Bhupathi's intentions of getting into the system that has taken Indian tennis to one of its lowest points currently.

It is down there because of a total lack of structure that India's first Grand Slam champion wants to put in...