Mahesh Bhupathi reveals the players who will face Italy in Kolkata
The famous Calcutta South Club in Kolkata will serve as the host of the first-ever Davis Cup Qualifiers tie between India and Italy between February 1-2 on the grass court, with two teams fighting to earn the place at Davis Cup finals at Caja Magica in Madrid in November. Stages just a week after the first Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne, the Indians have made the best possible decision when they went for grass, having some fine players capable of delivering the magic on it and knowing how inexperienced the Italian squad is on the fastest surface in our sport.
The Indian Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi (he had played for India between 1995-2011, winning 27 out of 33 doubles matches) is confident about his team's chances as they looked for the best possible surface to make the Italians uncomfortable and give the advantage to their singles players Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar Ramanathan. After 2008 ties against Japan and Uzbekistan, India has used grass only once, two years ago against South Korea, and the only country that has managed to beat them at home on the grass surface since 1995 is Sweden, in 1996 and 2005.
India has beaten Italy only once in five Davis Cup ties, at this very same court in Kolkata back in 1985 and they will be the favorites in February as well during the two-day action and the best-of-three matches. India will compete in the elite for the first time since 2011 and Mahesh Bhupathi is counting on Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Divij Sharan, Rohan Bopanna, Saketh Myneni and Sasi Kumar Mukund for the clash against Italy. With Leander Paes out of the squad and Yuki Bhambri who is still dealing with a knee injury, the best-ranked singles players Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar Ramanathan should play in singles while Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna are set to share the same side of the doubles court, deciding to play together in 2019 and competing at home in Pune this week as the top seeds.
Saketh Myneni and Sasi Kumar Mukund will be in the squad as well and the 21-year-old Mukund is hoping to make a Davis Cup debut in a dead rubber if his teammates seal the win in time for him to get a chance of playing in front of the home fans.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2H0Bai6
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