Davis Cup 2024: India coach Ashutosh confident of matching Sweden in World Group play-off

Playing Sweden on indoor hard courts in Stockholm may look a tough task for the Indian Davis Cup team, but the newly appointed coach Ashutosh Singh exuded confidence of India having a “fair chance” in the World Group play-off tie scheduled for September 14 and 15.

Drawing attention to the relative strength of the Indian team, the 73rd rank Sumit Nagal in particular, Ashutosh pointed out that the Swedish No.1 player, the 223rd ranked Elias Ymer had been beaten by Sumit in the ATP event on clay in Bastad last month.

Of course, Ymer had beaten Sumit in their previous two meetings without dropping a set, but the India No.1 has been having his best season this year.

“Sumit has been doing great this season. He has played all the four Grand Slams and the Olympics in Paris. Has done remarkably well to reach his career-best rank. He comes into the tie with that confidence”, said Ashutosh.

Karl Friberg (591), Adam Heinonen (757), Leo Borg (772) apart from the 67th ranked doubles specialist Andre Goransson are the other leading players in the Swedish ranking list.

Looking back in history, and the fact that Indian teams had lost five ties from 1985 to 2005, winning only two rubbers in all, it is indeed the brightest chance for the current team, to heal some of the wounds.

Only Vijay Amritraj in 1985, when he beat Mats Wilander in the fourth rubber in Bengaluru, apart from the world beating doubles duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi who won in four sets against Simon Aspelin and Jonas Bjorkman in Delhi in 2005, have managed to eke out wins against Sweden in Davis Cup.

“We are also banking on the experience of Ramkumar Ramanathan. He has been competing in Challengers. Niki Poonacha and Siddharth Vishwakarma will also be ready to play their part”, said Ashutosh.

The captain Rohit Rajpal, who missed the last tie against Pakistan, was keen to give the exposure for the bright young Aryan Shah when the team was being chosen, and the lad from Gujarat is scheduled to travel with the team as the reserve.

“In doubles, we have Sriram Balaji, playing the lead role. We have the option of playing him in partnership with either Ramkumar or Niki. Balaji played the singles against Pakistan when called, even though he focuses on doubles in the Tour.. He is ever ready to play the best for the country”, said the coach.

Hoping to assemble the team about a week in advance in Stockholm, to get acclimatised to the conditions, Ashutosh pointed out that a lot would depend on how the players fare in their tournaments.

“We do expect to have some training sessions for Siddharth Vishwakarma and Aryan Shah in Delhi, before departure”, said the coach.

Stressing that rankings did not matter in Davis Cup, and anything was possible, Ashutosh said that the Indian team was eagerly looking forward to the tie, to assert its calibre.

Meanwhile, another experienced tennis coach, Chandra Bhushan, who is serving as the administrator at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Swimming Pool in the Capital, has been appointed as the manager for the Davis Cup team.