India’s Davis Cup woes are far from over.
India’s Davis Cup woes are far from over. After pipping New Zealand 2-1 in Christchurch, the home boys fluffed a chance to book a World Group berth when they lost to the Czech Republic in New Delhi in September. India’s non playing captain Anand Amritraj, who has been at the helm for two years, said it was “shocking” to see his top players lose steam when it mattered. In an interaction, on the sidelines of the Chennai Open, Anand opened up on a variety of subjects.
When do you think India have a realistic chance of getting into the World Group I am hoping that in 2016 or 2017 we can reach the World Group. We went close against the Czechs but we blew the doubles, which was the best chance for us. (India’s lead pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna went down to A. Pavlasek/R. Stepanek 5-7, 6-4, 6-3). I have never seen two experienced doubles players performing badly at the same time. That loss was disturbing.
How do you think Indians can improve their ranking We should make our players play a lot on the tour. I advised Yuki Bhambri to forget about Challengers and concentrate on the tour and play the qualifiers in big tournaments. Beating everyone in Challengers is not good enough to improve. If Yuki concentrates on the Tour, he can improve his ranking by a good 30 places. He had a fantastic 2015. He won a total of 50 matches out of 72 and had he won those matches on the Tour he would have been in a better position.
Are you enjoying your stint as captain I am having fun. We just had two ties last year. We are a close team and the camaraderie is good without any friction in the team. Zeeshan Ali (Davis Cup coach) and I get along well and I will stay as long as I enjoy the time.
