With Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman still recovering from injuries, India is set to field the same set to players that beat South Korea 4-1 in July in the upcoming Davis Cup World Group play-off against Spain.
As Yuki and Somdev are unavailable for the September 16-18 match against the European powerhouse, the All India Tennis Association neither has the choice nor does it need to tinker with the team combination.
Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan will do singles duty while the legendary Leander Paes will again combine with Rohan Bopanna for the doubles.
The match will be played on the hard courts of the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association.
Paes and Bopanna lost in the opening round at the Rio Olympics.
It will be an enormous task for the Indian team to present a solid challenge to Spain, which has 12 players ranked among the top-100 in singles.
Comparatively, none of India's singles players feature in the top-100, with Myneni, at 143th, being the highest ranked player.
It will be great for the fans if the iconic Rafael Nadal comes to play, even though Spain do not require him to beat this Indian team.
Nadal has said this tie is on his schedule after the soon-to-start US Open, but his visit to India will depend on how he performs in the last Grand Slam of the season.
If the winner of 14 Grand Slams reaches the semi-final stage, his chances of coming to India will be quite dim.
The AITA's selection panel is likely to announce the team on Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment