Davis Cup 2020- India

[Dinesh]

Seems there must have been a change in the reverse singles tie - live scores show Prajnesh vs Marin match is canceled.

[sameerph]

We have changed our nomination to Sumit from Prajnesh.

Interesting move.

[Dinesh]

Let’s hope Sumit plays like he fought against Roger.

[ankit1407]

For now he is completely outplayed by Clicic power .. 0-3

[ankit1407]

He has no idea what has hit him ; if you are not good enough to hold your own service games , you are going to find it real hard on pro tour ..

Hopefully he fights back as his return games are pretty decent ..

[jayakris]

That ain't working, as Dire Straits would sing.... Sumit is 0-5 down

[ankit1407]

He is getting a good tennis class ; can easily see the difference in game .. 06 03...poor guy

[ankit1407]

06 05 .. I hope he can recover from this match ..

[RohitG]

The gamble has backfired. Som says "Sumit Nagal is in the worst possible position he could be in, one game away from a double bagel.. I remember being in a similar situation (in Davis cup) crying, in tears. Bhupathi played a big role that time and I know he has played a big part with this man as well.."

[RohitG]

The only consolation was Paes ending his Davis Cup on a winning note.. One Last Roar from the legend. A career spanning three decades .. he showed that spark toda and got the win. Equal credit to Bopanna who is 40 himself. He came up with some brilliant passing shots, great service and a fantastic one handed backhand.. We still have to check who are our opponents in September in the group 1 playoffs.. What's the team gonna be like then? Is there one last drama for the doubles selection? Hopefully not..

Could this be a transition period? While Paes is in his final lap, Sumit just played his first live rubber at the world level. The other two were against China and Pakistan in Asia Group 1. He should keep his morale intact. Loss against Gojo hurt our team more than anything else and Sumit was kinda thrown to the wolves.. a strategy that backfired but doesn't take away from what he CAN do. Remember, (derived from) his own words, Somdev too had tough starts in his Davis Cup career in 2008.

[PKBasu]

What a fantastic win for the doubles pairing of Leander-Rohan. Add another feather to the crowded cap of Leander Adrian Paes. They beat a Croatian pair who are both ranked far higher than each of our players, and did it in Croatia. Sadly we lost this tie mainly because Prajnesh failed to win the singles rubber; it was silly to throw Sumit into a match against Marin Cilic on a fast indoor court.

[sameerph]

Who are our potential group I opponents?

Following teams lost yesterday in qualifying matches and will therefore in group 1 match-ups- India,Belgium,Argentina,Uzbekistan,Brazil,Korea,Belarus,Netherlands, Slovakia,Uruguay,Japan and Sweeden.

And following teams won in group 1 playoffs-

Ukraine,Bolivia,Israel,Bosnia and Herzgovania,Finland,Lebanon,New Zeland,Peru,Norway,Portugal,Romania and the last match between Pakistan/Slovenia not yet completed due to rains- Winner of that match.

So, these will be 24 teams involved in 12 group 1 match-ups in September. As usual top 12 teams should be seeded. Based on current davis cup rankings, we are fifth behind Belgium,Argentina,Japan and Sweeden. There may be some changes in rankings but we should surely be seeded in top 12.

So, we should get realatively weak team. It will depend on revised ranking which can change on Monday. But if we take today it can be one of these 12 - Belarus,Uruguay,Ukraine,Bolivia,Israel,Finland,Lebanon,New Zeland,Peru,Norway,Portugal,Romania or Pakistan/Slovenia.

We will get better idea when new rankings come out on Monday.

[RohitG]

Israel, Lebanon in the mix. Remember the discussion about Golan heights in Davis Cup 2019 thread? Seems like the team might have to go there after all. What if we draw Pakistan again.. Preferably we get one of Israel, Lebanon or NZ.

Bolivia has Delien. He had managed to defeat Praj at Roland Garros R1.
BIH has Dzumhur, Mirza Basic.
Belarus has Gerasimov and Ivashka. Remember Belarus players doing well at Pune 250. Reached finals in Singles and Doubles.
Uruguay has Pablo Cuevas whose career high is #19.
Varillas from Peru had a stupendous run in Oct '19. Catapulting to top-150 after winning Campinas and Santo Domingo, something which Sumit would have loved to do.
Norway and Finland have next gen players in Ruud and Ruusuvuouri. Ruud is already in top-50 and Finland made it this far without Ruusuvuori

Tricky customers: Ukraine players' rankings are deceptive. Marchenko, Stakhovsky have been mercurial in the past. Slovenia have Bedene and Blaz Rola, one in top-100 and the other in top-150. Romania will depend on Marius Copil and their doubles team

So due to the changes in format, we no longer can take Group 1 for granted. You no longer have the Second string Asian sides. Would be much easier though if we draw either of Isr, NZ or Lebanon. If it's someone else, we'll need a full squad and hope that some of their players skip the tie like Croatia.

[sameerph]

Pakistan are 2-0 up over Slovenia with Aisam and Aqueel Khan winning their matches against top 300 ATP level players on grass courts at Islamabad. If they win doubles they will seal the tie.

[RohitG]

And they did. 3-0. No Bedene but they still had Kavcic who played doubles as well.