Davis Cup 2018 - India

[Florian Buechting]

Sack Bhupathi. Why change to Saki?

Maybe answering on that on a separate post:

I would not personally blame Saki at all today. I saw him warming up before the match and he looked good. I was confident in him and so I feel was Mahesh. Being then on court, both players did not play their potential. Bops was so much better at the US Open. It's not just about clay courts. It reminded me a lot of Edmonton last year, when Raja and Bops had a match full of struggle.

Not sure what is going wrong there. Nevertheless, loved to see Praj and Ram - I guess they are our future team, together with Yuks and maybe Bala and Bops.... Let's see what 2019 will bring... There will be some comparably weak seeded teams... Which likely means we get the other ones... What about Serbia?

[arjun2761]

I think Divij is our most versatile doubles player and should be an essential part of our future doubles teams. That is, we should look for the best pairing with Divij rather than looking to pair someone with Rohan who isn't as versatile. Of course, Divij and Rohan may be our best pair given their success in the Asian games.

[knarayen]

Florian, thanks for all you have done. I really mean it. You have shown a dedication to be present at these matches and report on them - hats off to you.

I feel bad that our team did not do well....we did not field our best doubles team and that leaves me wondering why. Bringing in Saki at the last moment and put him into an important DC rubber was a bad decision, regardless of how good Saki looked in the warmup. The bottom line is - these guys have not partnered and shown performance as a team before!! THey may have played 1 or 2 matches but that does not constitute a DC team. At least Balaji and Rohan have represented India at Asian Games and other matches previously - should not that have been the required pairing?

I am also disappointed with the effort - but we need to put this behind us and move on to something better.

Prof

[knarayen]

Florian, thanks for all you have done. I really mean it. You have shown a dedication to be present at these matches and report on them - hats off to you.

I feel bad that our team did not do well....we did not field our best doubles team and that leaves me wondering why. Bringing in Saki at the last moment and put him into an important DC rubber was a bad decision, regardless of how good Saki looked in the warmup. The bottom line is - these guys have not partnered and shown performance as a team before!! THey may have played 1 or 2 matches but that does not constitute a DC team. At least Balaji and Rohan have played other matches previously - should not that have been the required pairing?

I am also disappointed with the effort - but we need to put this behind us and move on to something better.

Prof

[suresh]

[sameerph]

If at all there can be a good thing in a loss, good thing in this loss is we get into another world group playoff in February 2019.

We will not be seeded there and will meet one of the 12 seeded teams in a home and away tie.

Currently, following 7 teams are confirmed seeded there - Italy,Germany,Kazakhstan, Belgium,Argentina,Serbia,Japan. 5 matches are in third day - Great Britain up 2-1 over Uzbekistan,Austria up 2-1 over Australia, Sweden up 2-1 over Switzerland,Canada up 2-1 over Netherlands and Hungary up 2-1 over Czech Republic. The winners in those matches will be seeded.

I do see some tough but some winnable match-ups there for us. Will have to check home and away combinations too.

[Florian Buechting]

By the way, the mess in words and pictures:

https://flyctory.com/2018/09/16/davis-c ... dia-day-2/

[jaydeep]

Thanks Florian for your excellent updates and photos through your website ... As usual terrific work.

Complete Result

At Davis Cup - World Group Play-Offs 2018, Kraljevo, Serbia

India l Serbia 0-4

Day 1
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,135) l Laslo Djere (SRB,86) 63 46 67(2) 26
[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,162) l Dusan Lajovic (SRB,56) 46 36 46

Day 2
[R3] Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) l Nikola Milojevic (SRB)/ Danilo Petrovic (SRB) 67(5) 26 67(4)

Day 3
[R4] N. Sriram Balaji (IND,665) l Pedja Krstin (SRB,174) 36 16

[PKBasu]

To have lost the doubles in straight sets is surely a new low. It is amazing how we manage to screw up the one strength most teams acknowledge we have!

[Florian Buechting]

Hi everyone,
just about to leave back home tomorrow morning - here is my view on today and the full tie:

https://flyctory.com/2018/09/16/davis-c ... dia-day-3/

Thanks,
Florian

[sameerph]

Thanks for excellent reporting, Florian. Sad that we could not put up at least a decent fight against the Serbs.

[bujilover]

Good that 8 of the 12 possible ties looks to be at home. I will take Kazakstan, Japan or Austria at home or Sweden away.

We have a slim chance against Austria and no chance against any of the others, assuming they field a first choice lineup.

Agreed, Austrian DC players are so passionate - Dennis Novak always brings the best in him while representing his nation - just defeated De Minaur quite easily in 4 sets. I might even put Italy in the above category assuming Fognini and Seppi won’t play the tie. Cecchinato and Berretini are ranked in top-100 but can be beatable if we choose the right venue that suits our guys.

[Prashant]

. I might even put Italy in the above category assuming Fognini and Seppi won’t play the tie.

Definitely. That's why I added the caveat. IF the 2 top ranked singles players do not show up, we have a chance vs several teams. Otherwise, we are massive underdogs vs all of them.

[Florian Buechting]

The ITF has released the list of nations seeded / unseeded:

https://www.daviscup.com/en/news/292334.aspx

Two European spots are still yet to be decided. The most interesting part of the article, however, is:

The two nations that will receive wild cards into the 2019 Finals will be announced prior to the draw. If a nation that is due to take part in the Qualifying Round is awarded a wild card, their place in the Qualifying Round taken by the next-highest ranked nation. If a seeded nation is given a wild card the next-highest ranked nation will be seeded in the Qualifying Round.

I would have expected that they assign the wildcards after the qualification has taken place. The Serbian photographer colleague joked last weekend "Let's play against each other again in February. You win and we get the wildcard anyway". Not that easy... Will be interesting to see what they do there.

To be eligible to receive a wild card, nations must be ranked in the Top 50 on the Davis Cup Nations’ Ranking of Monday 17 September OR have at least one player ranked inside the Top 10 of the ATP World Rankings.

My top guess is still South Africa as the best ranked African team.

[sameerph]

Yes, that is a bit surprising. The wild card may go to Switzerland too if they commit that Roger and Stan will be playing. Somehow, this wild card thing looks unnecessary.