NEW DELHI, Feb 11: India’s top tennis stars joined hands on Monday to start a players’ association following the dispute with the national federation that made them skip their last Davis Cup tie.

The body, named the Indian Tennis Players Association (ITPA), will have veteran Jaideep Mukherjee as its interim president and Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna among its founding members.

“It will primarily function as a forum and platform to represent the professional interests of its members and, thereby, improve the standard of tennis in the country,” the ITPA said in a statement.

Eleven players, excluding Leander Paes, had declined to play in the recent Asia-Oceania group one Davis Cup tie against South Korea in New Delhi following their tussle with the All India Tennis Association (AITA).

India, with three debutants in the ranks, were thrashed 4-1 and must now defeat Indonesia in Bangalore from April 5 to 7 to avoid being relegated to group two.

A temporary truce inked last week saw the rebels, that included Devvarman, Bhupathi and Bopanna, announce they will be available for the Indonesia tie.—AFP