Dhakshineswar Suresh now an obvious choice for singles: Rohit Rajpal

NEW DELHI: Dhakshineswar Suresh has emerged as India’s next big hope in tennis after perfect Davis Cup outings against higher-ranked Switzerland and The Netherlands.

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Speaking to TOI on the sidelines of the Davis Cup team’s felicitation here earlier this week, India’s non-playing captain Rohit Rajpal said Suresh would be the preferred choice for the two singles, and could be strongly considered for doubles fixtures. “Suresh has certainly become an obvious choice.




Our No. 1 Sumit Nagal has been a part of several Davis Cup campaigns, now Suresh has become an important part of the team. He is turning pro in May after finishing college in the US,” Rajpal said.

Rajpal said he identified Suresh played in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) as he pursued his college degree in the US. He revealed that it took an effort to convince his coach Tony Bresky to re-lease him for India duties.

“I looked up the whole US collegiate system and found out that aren’t too many players holding an Indian passport. Either, they gave up citizenship or had OCI cards. I found that Suresh (with an In-dian passport) fitted the bill. I convinced him to play for India over the phone, but convincing his coach Tony took some effort. Then arranging for his India visa sapped the energy out of us. It was difficult but we managed it all through,” he said.

India next play South Korea away in the second round of qualifiers from Sept 18-20. “Playing Korea in an away tie is one of the toughest prepositions. Had it been here in India, I would have been happy. We have six months to prepare and we will fight hard,” he said.

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