Davis Cup 2018 - India

[punarayan]

Arjun, Agree - I got carried away! Beating France was a mighty endeavor. Ramanathan Krishnan winning against Brazil after being almost out of it was a huge surprise for me personally. I was equally excited.

[atula]

Among the current crop..only Max Mirnyi..has a chance to give Leander a run for his world record of Doubles wins in Davis Cup..

..Mirnyi.. is currently at 36Doubles wins..Following leander at43..&Both are still playing...

[Florian Buechting]

ITF announced the seedings for the Playoff - no surprise, strictly by ranking (https://www.daviscup.com/en/news/283340.aspx):

1 - Argentina
2 - Great Britain
3 - Australia
4 - Switzerland
5 - Serbia
6 - Canada
7 - Czech Republic
8 - Japan

Interesting to see that Switzerland is still ranked that high.. Time for our guys to change this ;o)

Wow! Time to contact Florian's travel agent. After following India DC for sixty years, it maybe time to attend one of these.

I am always happy to assist with travel hints... Let's see where the trip will go to

[sameerph]

So, one change in the possible match-up which I had posted earlier-

Argentina - Away
Great Britain - Home
Australia - Home
Switzerland - Away
Serbia- Away
Czech Republic -Away
Canada - home
Japan - home

4 home ties and 4 away ties. Hope ties are not easy too. If we draw Japan or Great Britain or Canada at home, we will have to hope for absence of Nishikori,Murray and Raonic respectively. Then, they become somewhat beatable.

[jayakris]

So, one change in the possible match-up which I had posted earlier-

Yeah, 2-3 teams were bunched at very close rankings at 15-16-17 or something before the weekend. I guess Japan managed to keep their nose ahead in the revised rankings and get seeded, unlike we expected. Not too bad for us, as it is a home tie. I will take the 4-4 chances to get it at home, which is always worth an extra 10 or 15% chance to win the tie, compared to playing it abroad. But if the basic chances are no better than 30-70, then even a home tie doesn't help.

[sameerph]

Yes, out of last 4 consecutive years where we made it to the world group play offs, we got home ties for first 3 years - Serbia, Czech Republic and Spain. The only time we got close to an upset is against Czech Republic in 2015 when Somdev was in pretty good form but Yuki could not do it in the 5th match against Krajinovic. And in all 3 matches we lost the doubles match which is supposed to be our strong point.

Just feel that we have a bit more quality in the team now compared to last 2-3 years with everyone improved a lot but will still desperately need doubles to come thru against such opponents.

[Prashant]

I could see us beat Switzerland away. IF they show up without Murray AND Edmund, we would beat GB at home. Otherwise any of these is a massive stretch.

[jayakris]

Just feel that we have a bit more quality in the team now compared to last 2-3 years with everyone improved a lot but will still desperately need doubles to come thru against such opponents.

And that is not going to happen unless Mahesh picks a team, grooms them (or gives them ultimatums on it), and makes sure that they have played together in at least some 5 or 10 matches during the couple of months running up to the tie. This idea of arbitrarily sending in Bopanna and whoever else (even Leander) is not going to work in a world group playoff tie. Sending in Leander and whoever else is also not going to work. If it should be Vishnu/Balaji, then groom them. Or somebody else. Do something.

We keep doing the same crap, and we keep getting the same results. We need to make sure that we will take the double match. There is no other way to make the World Group. Huffing and puffing in a doubles match against even China should tell us something. I hope Mahesh will take it seriously.

[arjun2761]

I think it might be worth trying Rohan-Divij for our Davis Cup team. Divij does do well with a lot of partners and they could be around for a few years if they click. Also, a lefty-righty combination should also make for a natural ad-deuce court pairing. Agree fully they should play a couple of tournaments together before the next Davis Cup tie and their rankings should allow them to do so at least in ATP 250 events.

[prashanthm]

WOW! What a great comeback win.......

[atula]

I think we have much better players & Options now..than we had in the last 1-3Yrs..

Mahesh..I think is clever in picking the players.for a particular situation..& knows who to select..as per the situation demands..

With a bit of luck..we can make the world Group..& even do some damage there...

[jayakris]

I think it might be worth trying Rohan-Divij for our Davis Cup team. Divij does do well with a lot of partners and they could be around for a few years if they click. Also, a lefty-righty combination should also make for a natural ad-deuce court pairing. Agree fully they should play a couple of tournaments together before the next Davis Cup tie and their rankings should allow them to do so at least in ATP 250 events.

Agree. I think they could be very good. But the key is that they should've played some events together and definitely some matches in the immediate month ahead. If not, they WILL lose the doubles match against the WG playoff teams, though arguably about 5 or 6 of the 8 seeded teams are also relatively weak in doubles this time. That is added reason for us to plan well and prepare to take the doubles match this time.

But, in my opinion, Indian doubles players always show a tendency to not respect the doubles skills of other Indians (whose rankings are all due to their partners, they think). So they never really show too much enthusiasm for picking another Indian to play with, even if their rankings will get them into top events, and they themselves are not with any significantly better partners. That is why I say that the Davis Cup captain will need to groom somebody, and if not, cajole, threaten or do whatever needed to get two top guys to play together. Then we should go into the tie with no lack of confidence on the doubles match.

[Prashant]

Of course, all of this is moot if Yuki isn't healthy. We have no shot against any of those teams in that case.

[jayakris]

Of course, all of this is moot if Yuki isn't healthy. We have no shot against any of those teams in that case.

Actually, if RamK gets a little better or is in his top form (which is always iffy), he has a chance to pull off 2 wins by himself too. All the more reason why I keep on harping on the fact that the doubles match is a key. If we are assured of a double win (which we can be against most of the 8 possible opponents, if any two of our SEVEN top-125 doubles players go out there with some good match practice together), then the pressure is on the other team to get 3 of the 4 singles wins on us. That is not easy even if Yuki isn't playing, and is actually quite tough for many of those teams if Yuki is playing.

Here are the number of top-125 doubles players each country has

1 - Argentina - SIX
2 - Great Britain - SIX
3 - Australia - SEVEN
4 - Switzerland - ZERO
5 - Serbia - ONE
6 - Canada - TWO
7 - Czech Republic - TWO
8 - Japan - TWO

Only Australia has as many doubles players as we have, in the top-125. With 5 players allowed in the team, there is no excuse at all for us to not have an experienced doubles pair playing Davis Cup. With that many good doubles players, we have to be able to find some (any) two players willing to play together in the run-up to the tie. Sure, the other teams would have some very good singles players to throw in, and that is what we need to counter with the match-experience of a pair together. It makes a big difference in doubles. So I will repeat myself, yet again. Till Mahesh takes this seriously and forces a couple of players to be there ready to beat these teams, we will not make the world group. Once we have such a pair, we are a very tough team to beat for most of the teams above, regardless of where it is played.

And remember that doubles is much less dependent on the surface selected; so it is more assured a point in an away tie than singles, as the surface will be picked to suit their best singles players. Putting in some clear planning into winning that doubles match is a no-brainer.

We have NO EXCUSE to be dropping our doubles match like we have continued to do. None. We should win it against all but a couple of teams we may face in September, and put pressure on them to take 3 of 4 from us in the other matches.

[Prashant]

No disagreement on the doubles point. But I don't have as high an opinion of RamK as you do. I'd be happy if he can win one match in a playoff tie and stunned if he can win 2.