Davis Cup 2005 (WG playoff vs SWE in India!)

[gvhvhg]

I have another suggestion. Take a good cricket or soccer field with a good turf somewhere, create some temporary stands and just play! ..

I have always wondered about something like that...Why not?

Wow ive been very busy the last few days and i have missed some great discussions. I agree with alot of the points being made, even those that contradict eachother. These have been well thought our arguements. However I do agree with Bhushan that we should not risk losing a tie against the Uzbeks for the sake of spreading Davis Cup.

One thing we could do that would be very interesting indeed would be to have a tie in an obscure part of the country, perhaps somewhere in the northeast, In Sikkim or something, where living conditions would be extremely DIFFERENT to say the least for the visiting team. I don't know how many courts are up there but could you imagine Andy Roddick in the Himalayas or something for a World Group Qualifyer?!?! That would just be awesome......Also....Is there a certain quota that a venue can have for Davis Cup Ties??

[Sandeep]

Excellent Jay, though the post looked a bit regionalistic you made an excellent point. I never thought of this. This issue should be brought out if at all FED cup is conducted in Delhi. If they do that, what you said would be exactly correct(stepmotherly treatment towards southern parts). Anyone who follow sports, need not tennis will tell that Hyderabad would draw maximum crowd to stadium for FED cup. And if officials somehow miss it, then it is something we have to think about.

[BSharma]

I think many of you from northern India seem to simply miss the depth of complaint the south Indians have on these things. It is not just Davis Cup. As sandeep mentioned, it is on a lot of things. There is a cavaliar attitude in Delhi about this in many things in India where the south is an afterthought. That must stop.

Jay,

Don't lump Delhi and Kolkata to represent the entire North India. They are not. There is more to North India than just Delhi, and the same is true that Chennai alone does not represent South India.

[amr090]

well, the only way to really fix this problem is if the public demands. sadly not many people seem to care. those of us who do should take it upon ourselves to get in touch with the AITA (i.e. email them) if they get strong voices speaking out for change, then they may consider it.

[BSharma]

It is good to voice our suggestions or opinions or anger or frustration or whatever-you-call-it to AITA but it is important to get people to build tennis courts all over the country.

We have read in these forums how tennis courts in Mumbai were demolished to make space for non-sports facilities . Mumbai used to host so many different sporting events and now they have left their sports infrastructure deteriorate to a great extent. I saw the 1964 Tokyo bound Indian hockey team play a match against Malaysia in Mumbai and I wonder what may have happened to that hockey stadium now since it was located in a posh area (near Marine Drive).

The point I am trying to make is that India must not give up an edge to Uzbekistan because we want some city other than Delhi or Kolkata to host the Davis Cup tie. Build a grass court in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai or in Jay's home town ( ) and play the Indo-Uzbek tie there. There is plenty of time to do it.

[gvhvhg]

I say we build the court in Nagaland

[Sandeep]

Why are people behing Nagaland and sikkim? What is there? Are those unplayable conditions? .

[Sandeep]

And this grass thing, we are equally good on Hard courts also. Why are we thinking that we can win only on grass. I certainly do think chinese would have lost 5-0 even if we would have played on hard. Was there any clear indiacation that chinese suffered because of grass( People who saw live should tell) or is it that harsh and PA played extremely well?

[Kumar]

Being from South myself, I can understand the frustrations of Jay and Sandeep.. There is definitely a strong 'Anti-South' bias in Indian..

But this is an never ending agreement.. All the districts will then complain that Chennai always gets all the major tournaments and they don't get any... Further the tennis federation of Tamilnadu knows that they won't get a DC tie unless they have grass courts.. What is preventing them from building one... May be a revenue from DC tie will definitely help them in financing such a stadium..

We have to play to our strengths and also to opponents weakness. If we are playing croatia there is no point playing it on the grass... May be then clay comes into the picture..

[sanjay8886]

Jay,
It is not North India vs South India. It is India as a whole. For example what kind of national tournaments occurs in most populous states of bihar and UP. Or rather what kind of infrastructure are there for sports. Bhusan said right thing that Delhi and Calcutta does not represent entire North india.

sanjay

[Sandeep]

It is not question fo north India and south India, all we want to know is what mistake did south Indians do that they did not get even a single davis cup tie for 20 years? It is not that there is anti south and all, I don't believe in that. Probably it is there, but i haven't experienced it so no comments on it. But it clearly shows the lack of interest shown by officials to make the game more reachable to fans or to popularise the game more. What jay told is absolutely right, there are people in south too who are hardcore supporters of Indian tennis team and they never got a chance to witnss a davis cup match live. How pathetic can it get. If i want to see my own country play, I either have to ravel 3000 km or wait for 20 to 30 years? How correct is it? Let us see how fed cup goes. I am eagerly waiting what kind of decision officials will take on FED cup. Especially with sania so popular down south.

[gvhvhg]

Great post Rajiv

Exactly...Why not hold a tie in Assam on grass then? Or have one ANYWHERE in a cricket Stadium. Usinga cricket Stadium will make the number of options around the nation immense.

[gvhvhg]

Great post Rajiv

Exactly...Why not hold a tie in Assam on grass then? Or have one ANYWHERE in a cricket Stadium. Usinga cricket Stadium will make the number of options around the nation immense.

[Sandeep]

Ha Ha, am i fool or what? It is already announced that Fed cup is going to be held in Delhi. Jay atleast you could have told me . All the time I was posting like "let us see where they will conduct FED cup" and all. Asusual it is going to be held in Delhi. Now tell me what is the reason that they are hosting FED cup matches in Delhi? Does it have better infrastructure? Can it pull more crowd than Hyderabad( Noway). Are we going to play on grass? Why did they choose Delhi over other cities?

[jaydeep]

Winning matches is important than where it plays ... Calcutta and Delhi still holding grass courts, but what about B'lore and Chennai??? Before making regional comments, we should check with these particular state tennis associations, r they taking any pain to install grass courts??? Kumar raised correct point that we should play with our strength ... And Chennai and Hyderabad r already holding ATP and WTA level tournaments ... So I don't think here is any regional issues ... Only issue is infrastructure (Grass Courts) avaliability.

Jaydeep.