KOLKATA: For
Mahesh Bhupathi, it's a dream to have a left-right combination in singles for the
Davis Cup Qualifier against Italy, starting at South Club on Friday.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran
, the country’s latest
tennis
hope, has been playing Davis Cup for a couple of years, but the southpaw’s steady improvement in the past eight months has raised 19thranked India’s hopes of creating an upset against No. 10 Italy. And with the unpredictable but dangerous
Ramkumar Ramanathan
as the second singles player, Bhupathi is optimistic.
“Prajnesh being lefthanded with a big serve and big forehand, it’s a captain’s dream to possess that kind of variation in the side. In cricket, teams like to have a left-right opening pair and on Day 1, I’m going left-right. With Prajnesh so close to top 100, it’s a bigger bonus as he is brimming with confidence,” said Bhupathi.
Ramkumar, the captain added, can be “a bit up and down… he can lose 10 straight first-round matches and then suddenly enter final of a Tour event. He’s a bit of a wild card.”
India have always had a formidable doubles combination in Davis Cup, but Bhupathi sounded a bit cautious talking about Rohan Bopanna and
Divij Sharan’s chances against Simone Bolleli and Andreas Seppi as he himself (partnering Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi) had fallen to the Italian duo in 2 sets in the 2016 Dubai meet.
“I think they have got the experience, Bolleli has won a Slam. If I’ve to pick a team, I would pick them, but if I was to pick a team on grass, I would go with my team. So it’s very tight,” said the multiple Grand Slam doubles winner.
As per rankings and strength, India are the underdogs, but Bhupathi backed his boys to script an upset. “One team has to be the underdogs and the other team favourites. But there is a belief among the players that they can all contribute to hopefully upset the Italians,” he said.
Going by Wednesday’s training pattern, it seemed the Italians will play topranked Marco Cecchinato and Seppi on the opening day. But with a player like the talented Matteo Berrettini (world no. 53) in squad, Bhupathi is prepared for a surprise.
Grass difficult but not a problem, says Barazzutti
Bhupathi’s opposite number Corrado Barazzutti, whose players got a feel of the show court before the hosts did, stated he was happy with the conditions and reconciled to the fact that they would be playing on grass, and not clay. “Usually on grass we have some bad bounce. The centre court is much quicker compared to the practice court. But the ball is keeping low at times.
“Maybe it’s a bit difficult for us playing on grass, but we don’t have any problem. Next time we meet, we will play on clay,” quipped Barazzutti.
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