Davis Cup 2019 - India

This is a forum where users can follow various tournaments that have Indian participation or are held in India. GrandSlams and Davis Cup should also be discussed here.

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Rajiv
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by Rajiv »

Yes broken at crucial times , even had break point earlier but couldnot convert , and now down a set.
Seems so quite here , compared to earlier days ...hardly seems like DC match is in progress.
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by RohitG »

Somdev is there in the team box too along with Yuki. However Seppi takes the first match. Too many unforced errors, double faults and the serve-volley grass court tactic hasn't really worked.
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by ornatebrute »

₹1000 for tickets, right? Ain't that too much for Indians? Pune/Bangalore had it free I guess.
Ram: Poor shot selections, multiple unnecessary unforced errors. No point with 8 aces when you compensate with 6 DFs.
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by RohitG »

Similar script for the second match too. Got broken once in the first set and multiple times in the second. Prajnesh got broken in first game itself in both sets and then found it difficult to break back the towering Berettini. I don't think the cost of tickets made any difference because based on what I saw on TV, I didn't find any empty seats there. I think the quiet nature was because the players didn't offer much to cheer to begin with. Points won even when our guys were 30-0 or 40-0 down, were cheered and had the typical home atmosphere with drums and Chak De, Jai Ho and Maa Tujhe Salaam during the breaks.
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by jaydeep »

So after the first day we r 0-2 down and considering our players' performance it would be Hercules task for our team to fight back.

At the World Group Qualifier 2019, Kolkata, India

India vs Italy 0-2

Day One
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,133) l Andreas Seppi (ITA,37) 46 26
[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,102) l Matteo Berrettini (ITA,53) 46 36
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by Prashant »

Wish I could say I expected a different outcome but this isn't surprising.

I am disappointed to hear that there wasn't a raucous crowd.
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by knarayen »

I watched the RamK match and all my earlier observations came back in full force - he is able to keep top 50 opponents engaged in his serve games, but his returns are so bad that it doesn’t matter how good his serve games are. Sharp contrast with Seppi who was able to return consistently and effectively, stepping it up with aggression when needed. That is the big difference between RamK and the rest of the top 50 or even the top 100.

It’s not that he doesn’t have the tools to return aggressively from the get go - he seems content to simply chip deep and wait for the rally to progress. Top 100 will kill it - he has no chance and looks like he either doesn’t understand or doesn’t want to learn. Poor guy, devoted his life to the game and is now stuck in this rut. He appears to give his all, works hard etc but is unable to come back strong in the return games.

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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by RohitG »

Do y'all think the situation would have been easier had we played on hard court surface, in Chennai heat like how we did against Brazil? It looked like the court suited the opposition and whatever troubles were planned hindered our guys more than them. Our guys couldn't return well, was it to do with the uneven bounce and skidding of the ball? Meanwhile on hard I don't think our guys would have served worse than today for sure. RamK was serving well till 4-4 in the first set, 7th game especially where he had two quick aces and it looked like Seppi had no answer to crack his serve. Somehow he managed to have multiple double faults and second serves in the 9th game and probably got affected psychologically in the 2nd set.
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by PKBasu »

I must say I am shocked that we lost so abjectly. No reason for this, although the Italians cleverly altered their playing line-up -- replacing Cecchinato with Berritini. The most disappointing aspect is the tame crowd. South Club should have been much more boisterous...RamK, in particular, should have been expected to win, given what he achieved at Antalya and Newport in the last two years.
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by knarayen »

My take is it doesn’t matter grass or hardcourt. The myth that Italy would be disadvantaged or grass is pretty much busted. In fact our guys were struggling on grass. Hopefully lessons learned for the future.

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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by arjun2761 »

Yes, I doubt if we would have done any better on hard courts either. On hard courts, they had basically 3 top 50 players against a top 100 and a top 150 player, on our side, so we would have been a decided underdog in all 4 singles.

Playing on grass was the right call because our top 150 player (RamK) is much better on grass and it was a less familiar and more unpredictable surface and was more likely to spring a surprise. However, I think Seppi is pretty seasoned on grass and Berrettini with his height probably has good tools for grass, so our gamble hasn't paid of in the first 2 matches.

Hopefully, we can pull out the doubles and RamK can beat the less experienced Berrettini to make it a match...
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by suresh »

We have to accept that Italy has a vastly superior team and the losses in the first two matches reflect that. Our players need to move up the rankings before we can compete seriously and make it to the World Group.
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by jayakris »

arjun2761 wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 6:01 pmHopefully, we can pull out the doubles and RamK can beat the less experienced Berrettini to make it a match..
Do we have any shot in doubles? I doubt it, really. For once I thought we would have a pair of players who have recently played together at the highest level, but that is not the case once again. Patchwork teams usually have no chance at this level of the world group. I hope I am all wrong.
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by sameerph »

With his very good performance yesterday, the Italians have pulled a surprise and paired Berrettini with Bolelli for doubles.

4-4 in the first set so far. Our pair had 1 break point which they missed.
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Re: Davis Cup 2019 - India

Post by sameerph »

Rohan's serve gets broken at the crucial time in the 9th game and the Italians hold to take the first set 6-4.

Bops will have to pull his weight in the team with his experience. His serve is the stronger of the 2 Indians and getting broken at a crucial time is disappointing.
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