Indian captain Anand Amritraj stated that his boys did well to run Serbia close in its Davis Cup World Group playoff tie, given that they started the fixture as underdogs.
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We should take a lot of confidence from it. All credit to Somdev (Devvarman) for his fantastic reverse single match. And, of course, to Rohan (Bopanna) and Leander (Paes), who turned it around for us on Saturday. The three of them played above their level.
Realistically speaking, we were the underdogs in a big way.
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Definitely disappointed, but it could have been closer. Bhambri has the talent to play against these guys.
Having come so close, it is really disappointing to lose. The problem with Bhambri was probably that from February to July, he did not play a single tournament due to injury.
To come out and play against two guys at this level was tough.
Bhambri’s areas of improvement
His serve has to get better. He is a big guy, and it needs to be at 200 kmph, at the minimum.
He also needs to work the points more. You can’t go for a winner on every third shot. Matches are won and lost on unforced errors.
Having Leander Paes on board
He wants to play more Davis Cup ties.
The team got along amazingly well. I hadn’t seen Paes in ages. We had a different team in my first two ties in charge. Then Paes came in, and he blended very well.
His first year as captain
It couldn’t have gone any better. There is great chemistry among the players. A victory here would have been the icing on the cake.