Country needs more quality singles players, says Amritraj
Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj on Sunday said that the country needs to develop quality singles players if it wants to be in the elite world group.
India recently lost to Serbia in the Davis Cup World Group Playoff 0-4 and Amritraj felt the country was lacking in the number of quality singles players.
“India’s focus has to be on singles. We need four good singles players. There is no point just having good doubles players. Since we don’t have enough number of good singles players, we aren’t being able to qualify for the elite group,” Amritraj said.
India will now compete in a 24-team qualifying event (home and away format) in February next year to qualify for the 18-team Davis Cup Finals.
On the performance of players like Ramkumar Ramanathan and Yuki Bhambri, he said they have done well but need to work on their fitness. “Yuki has done well. The problem is that he is not able to play a full year yet. He is not fit enough to play a full season, which is a worry. He needs to work on his fitness. Similarly, Ramkumar did well in some tournaments, reached the final at Newport, but needs to be a lot fitter,” he said. “The players should to be fit enough to be hitting the ball hard in the 8th-10th or 15th ball as in the first shot of the rally,” said Amritraj, who was recently elected as president of Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA).
On the new Davis Cup format which is to come into force from next year, Amritraj said it would not affect India much as of now.
Amritraj said the Davis Cup needed dramatic changes and that was why the authorities decided change the format. He said it remained to be seen how the changes pan out.
Amritraj, who has guided the country to two Davis Cup finals besides himself reaching the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, said he will give it his best shot as president of TNTA. “I know that the expectations will be high. Tennis in the country needs a fillip for a better standard. Our team will do its best in that direction. Concrete plans will be firmed up shortly,” he said.
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