Pune: All eyes will be on veteran Leander Paes, who is the on the cusp of a historic world record in perhaps his ‘last appearance’ in Davis Cup, as India clash with New Zealand in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie, here starting Friday.
The 18-time Grand Slam doubles and mixed doubles champion, who is all set to take part in his 55th Davis Cup tie, is tied with Italy’s Nicola Pietrangeli on 42 doubles wins. A victory Saturday will make him the most successful doubles player ever in Davis Cup history.
Paes, however, will have to team up with last-minute inclusion and his London Olympics doubles partner Vishnu Vardhan, after Saketh Myneni was ruled out with a foot injury sustained during last month’s Chennai Open. “Myneni’s injury is not okay yet,” said non-playing captain Anand Amritraj.
Paes and national hard court champion Vardhan will clash with the Kiwi pair of Artem Sitak and Michael Venus. Vardhan was given a call-up after three people spoke to India’s top doubles player Rohan Bopanna. “Three people spoke to him. I did not. I don’t know exactly what happened,” said Amritraj.
Yuki Bhambri, ranked 368, will open India’s campaign against New Zealand’s No.1 player Finn Tearney, ranked 414, while Ramkumar Ramanathan (206) will take on Jose Statham (417) in the second singles.
On paper, due to the higher rankings and the advantage of playing at home, India appear to hold a clear edge over the Kiwis against whom they have a 5-3 win-loss record, with all the defeats occurring in the 1970s. The last time India had lost to the Kiwis was way back in 1978 at New Delhi.
PTI
