Hauling itself up from World Group II shouldn’t be an advanced job for India when it takes on an unostentatious Morocco within the residence tie, which shall be extra of a celebration of Rohan Bopanna’s Davis Cup career, which is able to come to a halt after 21 years on September 17.
The lack of singles gamers who might problem the massive boys of the ATP circuit, coupled with defeats in winnable matches, has damage the Indian Davis Cup workforce badly in the previous couple of years on this workforce event, however relegation to World Group II was a brand new low the Indian workforce hit in February.
It was for the primary time because the new format was launched in 2019 that the Indians dropped to this degree.
Much has modified since India final performed within the Davis Cup tie in March, when it misplaced 2-3 to Denmark.
Indian tennis has hardly had any memorable moments this season till Bopanna reached the US Open ultimate final week.
It’s not simply the dearth of on-court leads to singles; off-court, the nation additionally felt the frustration of dropping its solely ATP 250 occasion.
Yuki Bhambri, one of many best gamers India has seen, has stopped taking part in the singles format. Ramkumar Ramanathan has dropped out of even the top-550 and is languishing at quantity 570.
Such has been his plight this season that the Chennai participant has made 17 first-round exits at totally different tournaments, together with the bottom rung, the ITF Futures degree.
It’s not stunning that skipper Rohit Rajpal has not included Ramkumar within the lineup, although he stays part of the squad to assist prepare the gamers.
At 43, Bopanna nonetheless taking part in stable tennis
But Bopanna remains to be taking part in some stable tennis within the doubles format.
At 43, he stays some of the highly effective servers on the circuit. His strokes nonetheless have sting, and he can nonetheless pull off these gorgeous passing winners from troublesome angles or whereas operating on flanks.
It would have been excellent if he had obtained his farewell tie the place he wished — in Bengaluru — however he nonetheless has an opportunity to bid adieu to the Davis Cup earlier than the house followers.
In 32 ties performed since making his debut in 2002, the participant from Coorg has received 22 matches, together with 10 singles.
He will workforce up with Yuki for one ultimate time in Davis Cup, whilst he continues to play on the ATP circuit. Ranked contained in the top-10, he has no causes to hold up his racquet.
The AITA felicitated Bopanna in a particular occasion on Thursday night time, the place his contribution to Indian tennis was lauded.
Bopanna could have a variety of family and friends members within the stands, which may accommodate about 1,300 individuals.
Ideally, as Bopanna had requested, his farewell tie ought to have been hosted in Benglauru, which has a lot better infrastructure and might accommodate 6,500 spectators.
Sumit Nagal in good contact
India’s primary singles participant, Sumit Nagal, is in good type. He is coming into the tie after taking part in the ultimate of a Challenger occasion in Austria. It was his third ultimate of the season at that degree. Unless there may be an inexplicable meltdown, he would win two factors for India.
Sasi Mukund will lastly get to make his debut. He was named within the workforce even for the tie in opposition to Pakistan again in 2019 however pulled out, saying he had suffered a foot harm.
Digvijay Pratap Singh has additionally made the lower, and he may get to play a useless rubber.
Hot and humid circumstances will pose a severe health take a look at for each groups. The begin of the matches has been delayed by two hours however it would nonetheless be a troublesome job to battle the energy-sapping circumstances.
Morocco has just one worthy challenger for India’s singles gamers, Elliot Benchetrit, however the guests have determined to not play him on the opening day on account of an unrevealed harm that he has simply recovered from.
The 24-year-old 6’4″ tall player might be ranked just 465 on the ATP singles chart as of today, but he touched a career-high 198 in February 2020.
Benchetrit has cherished wins against top-100 players, including one against a top-50 player, and has competed at the biggest stage — the Grand Slams — too.
However, he has been nominated to play only the doubles alongside Yones Lalami Laaroussi.
The nominations can be changed an hour before the scheduled start.
If it turns out to be just a strategy to throw off the Indian team’s preparations and Benchetrit plays on the opening day, there will be some fight.
Benchetrit had qualified for the US Open in 2019 and Australian Open in 2020, beating quality players such as Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland on the way. He had entered the French Open as a wild card in 2018 and took a set off Frenchman Gael Monfils before losing the opening round.
The visiting team’s number one singles player is now 20-year-old Yassine Dlimi, ranked 557. He is still plying his trade on the ITF Futures circuit.
So the two debutants will open the tie with Dlimi taking on Sasi Mukund.
Adam Moundir, ranked 779, will play the second singles against India’s number one Nagal.
Given the weak opponents, winning this tie won’t be much of a challenge for India but chalking out a roadmap for the future will be.
Serious soul-searching required
Captain Rajpal and AITA officials need to sit and discuss what is wrong with the system that India does not have a single top-100 singles player, and the team is now fighting it out in World Group II.
There are a lot of questions that need answers and some serious soul-searching.
Unless India have quality singles players, the country will not excel either in Davis Cup or Grand Slams.
Tennis remains an individual and professional sport but it’s time that AITA comes up with something special to save the game from plunging to new lows.
Draw
On Saturday: Sasikumar Mukund vs Yassine Dlimi; Sumit Nagal vs Adam Moundir
On Sunday: Rohan Bopanna/Yuki Bhambri vs Elliot Benchitri/Younes Lalami Laaroussi; Sumit Nagal vs Yassine Dlimi; Sasikumar Mukund vs Adam Moundir.