From playing in the World Group to be playing in the zonal relegation play-off, Indian tennis may have hit a low in the Davis Cup arena. But Yuki Bhambri and Vishnu Vardhan promise that Indian tennis will spring to life.
Yuki will shoulder the responsibility of providing the host a strong start on Friday in the first rubber of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania relegation play-off against New Zealand at the CLTA Stadium here, when he takes on the 322nd-ranked Daniel King-Turner, whose name was picked by Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil in the draw ceremony at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday.
After beating Brazil in Chennai in the World Group play-off in 2010, India lost the next three ties to the formidable Serbia, Japan and Uzbekistan which were all played abroad.
To be playing at home against a team that has been generally struggling to rise from Group II to Group I in the Asia-Oceania zone should be a big relief for India.
Launching pad
It should be an ideal launching pad for the young team that will compete without the services of Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman.
Quite undoubtedly, it will be a great opportunity for the 20-year-old Yuki.
He has won the Australian Open junior event, been World No.1 junior, finished runner-up in the Youth Olympics in Singapore, and, in the absence of an injured Devvarman, done very well on the professional circuit to become the country’s No.1 singles player, with an impressive rank of 179.
He also won a Challenger in singles and doubles as well in recent months, and has raised his doubles rank to 173.
Yet, his overall achievements tend to get ignored, as was the case when even a wild card was not sought for Yuki for the Olympics. Vishnu Vardhan capitalised on the opportunity to partner Leander Paes and has risen phenomenally with his game and confidence.
It will perhaps be Yuki’s turn to ride on the advantage of playing at home, after having given a very good account of himself beating Izak van der Merwe in South Africa 2009 and Asia’s best player Denis Istomin in Uzbekistan in April. “I am glad to be playing the first match and leave the issue of tackling the hot sun in the afternoon to Vishnu,” said Yuki with a smile. The Delhi player assured that he would not make Vishnu wait for long for his time under the sun!
The 262nd-ranked Vishnu himself was brimming with confidence and assured that the young team would attempt to seal the issue on the second day itself, especially in the light of the doubles combination also getting strengthened with the inclusion of his regular partner Divij Sharan, with whom he had recently won a Challenger in Bangkok.
The only sad note, if it can be called that, was the 367th-ranked local star Sanam Singh not getting a chance to play the singles on the opening day.
Field the best
But, the Indian team was not willing to take things lightly and decided to field the very best, and cut the escape routes for New Zealand which had lost the last three ties to India from 2002 to 2004.
Sanam, who won the Asian Games doubles gold medal with Devvarman in Guangzhou, was quite sporting and said he was not disappointed, and reiterated that like every other member of the team, he would play his best if given the opportunity.
The New Zealand players opted to speak less and show their prowess on court.
Captain Marcel Vos went to the extent of saying he actually wanted the draw to be exactly the way it turned out. It remains to be seen whether the results that India expects materialises on the opening day.
