New- look India have edge
Chandigarh, July 14: Beset by injuries to singles players and ‘ mistrust’ between the Rio- bound doubles team, India will expect young Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni to rise to the occasion against Korea in the Asia/ Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie, starting here on Friday.
The 21- year- old Ramkumar will make his Davis Cup debut as Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman are nursing injuries.
The Chennai lad’s game is full of energy, passion and sharp strokes, especially his forehand, but lack of consistency has hampered his progress on the Tour. This is the moment for him to enhance his reputation by winning Davis Cup games for the country.
He has won a few tough matches, lost a few close contests and is good enough to pull it off together with Myneni against the Koreans, who have landed without their best player, Hyeon Chung, ranked 107 now but at a career- best 51 last year.
In his absence, the topranked Korean is Seongchan Hong who is 427 in the ATP singles list. YongKyu Lim ( 626), Yunseong Chung ( 628) and Hong Chung ( 655) are the others in the side.
This line- up is not likely to trouble India who have more experienced players in the squad. Myneni now has played three ties and has lost only one doubles match.
Myneni, though, has been troubled by a shoulder injury recently and it is crucial for the hosts that he remains physically fit. He has the game required to win matches in this tie.
Grass is not the surface players from either side prefer but India chose it as it is alien turf for the Koreans.
Davis Cup returns to grass courts in India for the first time since 2008 when the hosts beat Japan 3- 2 in a close tie in New Delhi.
India have their own set of problems to deal with. The hosts have Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes as the doubles pair for the tie as Aita want them to tune up for the Rio Olympic Games by resolving their differences.
Bopanna did not want to play with Paes at Rio, but Aita shot down his preference, which was Myneni.
It’s baffling how the mistrust of years can be removed in one week. Bopanna has already taken pot shots at Paes for him joining the side late.
Paes is one of the greatest in the game in doubles and Bopanna too had his share of high moments. More than the Korean rivals, their own differences could be their bigger enemy.
The winners of the tie will advance to the World Group play- offs against either China or Uzbekistan. For India, it will be an away tie if they win here.