American hardcourt Challengers 2017

[PKBasu]

...The Davis Cup selectors are being sent a harsh lesson.

For not selecting Prajnesh into the playing four? Just wondering how!

- Varma

As the #3 ranked Indian, he should have been picked ahead of Saketh, who has basically been out of action for nearly a year. Until 24 hours before the toss, Saketh was a full member of the 4-man team, until replaced on the final morning by Purav Raja.

[jaydeep]

RamK is facing Christian Harrison, brother of Ryan, in the first round.

At $100K Stockton Challenger 2017, California, USA

[R1] (5) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,150) vs Christian Harrison (USA,266)

[Sin Hombre]

...The Davis Cup selectors are being sent a harsh lesson.

For not selecting Prajnesh into the playing four? Just wondering how!

- Varma

As the #3 ranked Indian, he should have been picked ahead of Saketh, who has basically been out of action for nearly a year. Until 24 hours before the toss, Saketh was a full member of the 4-man team, until replaced on the final morning by Purav Raja.

And then we would have complaints about how horrendous a selection Prajnesh was last week when he lost to a player outside the top 1000.

Davis Cup selectors cannot win with this crowd

[sameerph]

Also as Jay said, main reason why Prajnesh could not be picked is he does not play doubles at all. Saketh was mainly picked as a double player for that davis cup tie and as a back-up for singles.

[sameerph]

Also as Jay said, main reason why Prajnesh could not be picked is he does not play doubles at all. Saketh was mainly picked as a double player for that davis cup tie and as a back-up for singles.

Btw, Camerron Norrie thrashed to see top seed Tennis Sandgryn 63 62 in the final of Tiburon Challenger. So, Prajnesh ran into man in form in SF.

[PKBasu]

Also as Jay said, main reason why Prajnesh could not be picked is he does not play doubles at all. Saketh was mainly picked as a double player for that davis cup tie and as a back-up for singles.

It's a bit harsh to say Prajnesh doesn't play doubles at all -- especially since he has made the doubles final in the Samarkand Challenger in late-May this year, beating a tough pair like Stakhovskiy-Molchanov along the way. It was Saketh's doubles and singles form that was always doubtful. Prajnesh had demonstrated some form (admittedly more in dominating Futures singles).

[jaydeep]

This week also RamK is playing the doubles with Mexican partner ... They r having a tough match against 2nd seed pair.

At $100K Stockton Challenger 2017, California, USA

[R1] Hans Hach Verdugo (MEX)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs (2) Ruan Roelofse (RSA)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE)

[jayakris]

It's a bit harsh to say Prajnesh doesn't play doubles at all -- especially since he has made the doubles final in the Samarkand Challenger in late-May this year, beating a tough pair like Stakhovskiy-Molchanov along the way...

It is not harsh at all, PKB. After 4 first round exits in Indian futures in 2008, he played only one event each in 2013 (weirdly, a futures title in Egypt with a random Syrian dude), 2014 and 2015. Then he played one match this year, before that out-of-the-blue challenger final in Samarkand. In total, 18 doubles matches at 11 events (8 first round exits and 2 finals) so far in his whole career over a decade!! He has almost NO experience at all in doubles at the pro level.

That is just not enough for doubles in Davis Cup where experience does count. Like I said, however, he is probably a very capable doubles player if he takes it seriously. But no other Indian player has given such a complete skip to doubles in his career like Prajnesh has. If he plays consistently with some focus and success in 5 or 10 challenger events with at least some 15-20 doubles matches under his belt by next year, he will deserve consideration as a singles player who can be pushed in for a doubles match. We cannot have 3 singles specialists in the team when we are hell-bent on not asking either of our best two singles players to play doubles.

[Saniapower]

Good players don't play doubles.

[knarayen]

Good players don't play doubles.

Tell that to John McEnroe, Stan Wawrinka, Roger Federer

Prof

[Saniapower]

Good players don't play doubles.

Tell that to John McEnroe, Stan Wawrinka, Roger Federer

Prof

They don't play frequently - that's all what I meant. But i do know, sometime they play and when they play they beat everyone on their way to the Olympic Gold.

[Varma]

Good or bad, almost everyone plays doubles at Futures level. As they graduate to Challengers, majority of them still play doubles at least occasionally. For most of the fringe players at all levels, it is practical to play since it gives them more court/match time while supplementing their income a bit.

- Varma

[Varma]

RamK & Verdugo upset the second seeds to make it to the quarters!

At $100K Stockton Challenger 2017, California, USA

[R1] Hans Hach Verdugo (MEX)/ Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) d. (2) Ruan Roelofse (RSA)/ Andreas Siljestrom (SWE) 6-4, 1-6, [10-8]

- Varma

[jayakris]

Good players don't play doubles.

Tell that to John McEnroe, Stan Wawrinka, Roger Federer

They don't play frequently - that's all what I meant. But i do know, sometime they play and when they play they beat everyone on their way to the Olympic Gold.

Many of the good ones almost never play but have played it rather seriously at some points and know what to do (and most of them are anyway naturally talented enough to put their experience in play pretty quickly). But even among all the GOOD players, you will almost surely not find even a single guy who has not played even 20 doubles matches after a decade of a pro career. Prajnesh has skipped it like nobody else has, and I am not about to agree that he can be counted on to play and win a Davis Cup doubles match against any pair of doubles players of even top-250 quality.

[knarayen]

Tell that to John McEnroe, Stan Wawrinka, Roger Federer

They don't play frequently - that's all what I meant. But i do know, sometime they play and when they play they beat everyone on their way to the Olympic Gold.

Many of the good ones almost never play but have played it rather seriously at some points and know what to do (and most of them are anyway naturally talented enough to put their experience in play pretty quickly). But even among all the GOOD players, you will almost surely not find even a single guy who has not played even 20 doubles matches after a decade of a pro career. Prajnesh has skipped it like nobody else has, and I am not about to agree that he can be counted on to play and win a Davis Cup doubles match against any pair of doubles players of even top-250 quality.

Couldn't agree more - and i spoke to Dennis Ralston about this very topic when i met him years ago (Ralston was part of the original handsome eight and served as US Davis Cup Captain, he also was US # 1 once). He said that playing Davis Cup doubles was something that all his singles players were expected to do, because playing as a team for his country came first, and he made no exceptions when he was captain. As a result, the top players in his team all got to compete in critical doubles ties in Davis cup and they played a LOT of doubles as a result. Wawrinka/Federer learnt from none other than Laver/Emerson, who played almost as much doubles as singles. Not playing doubles limits your singles skills. Naval is super good at the net because of his doubles play in Davis cup. The list goes on......