IANS
New Delhi, Sept 18: Young Sumit Nagal showed spark in his game on Davis Cup debut before breathing problem scuttled his victory march as India suffered a 5-0 whitewash at the hands of mighty Spain in the World Group Play-off tie, here Sunday.
Up against the reigning Olympic and French Open doubles champion Marc Lopez, who does not play singles anymore, the 19-year-old Nagal dominated the proceedings before losing 3-6, 6-1, 3-6 in the dead fourth rubber, that lasted more than two hours.
It was a mountainous task for Ramkumar Ramanathan to prevent a clean sweep since he had World No. 13 David Ferrer as his opponent. The Spaniard cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win to complete a dominating 5-0 win for his side even as Ramkumar fought his heart out, giving his all.
The last time India suffered a whitewash was in 2003 against the Netherlands in the away World Group Play-off tie. It is the 21st time that India has been whitewashed. The tie already in the pocket of five-time Davis Cup champions, they chose to field Marc in place of Feliciano Lopez while India handed debut to Nagal.
Lopez was playing only his second singles match in a Davis Cup tie. The last time he played a singles rubber was in 2013 World Group Play-off tie against Ukraine. Then also, he had played fourth rubber and won 6-3, 6-3 against Denys Molchanov.
The last time Lopez played a singles match on the Tour was in 2014 at Barcelona and that was only singles he played on the Tour that year. After overcoming initial nerves, Nagal opened up and played smartly. He packed a lot of power in his forehand and also used the drop shots smartly. He impressed with his style of play, court coverage and selection of shots.
His backhand is still work in progress and Lopez attacked him there in the later part of the match. Had it not been for his breathing problem, Nagal was well on course for a memorable win, albeit against a player who is used to covering only the half-court in the recent years.
Someone who is still finding feet in the ITF Futures circuit, the inspiring performance against World No. 15 in the doubles will surely serve a huge confidence booster for the Delhi lad. Nagal received a medical time out for breathing issues in the second game of the third set after breaking Lopez in the first. This happened when the match was in his grip.
He had saved three break chances before the trainer was called. He saved three more after receiving the treatment, held the serve and broke Lopez to take a 3-0 lead in the decisive set.
Lee rues Rio mixed team
The bitterness of not getting a shot at the Rio Games mixed doubles event continues to rankle Leander Paes and the veteran Indian tennis star has no qualms in stating that the country did not send its best team in the event to Rio.
“I can very clearly say that in this Olympics and last Olympics we didn’t put the best team forward. This Olympics the mixed doubles was a great opportunity. What more does a man need to do than win four Grand Slams in 14 months. There were no more tournaments to win, I could not create anymore tournaments. Sad. Long story short, let’s nurture these kids,” Paes said referring to his fantastic mixed double run leading up to the Games.
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna had been picked to represent India in the Games and the duo lost in the semifinals before going down in the bronze medal playoff as well.
Paes was speaking to the media after partnering Saketh Myneni in a hard-fought men’s doubles loss to Olympic champions Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez in the ongoing Davis Cup. The 43-year-old said he would love to partner Myneni in the circuit as well.
“I had a lot of partners who are much less talented than him. If I get Saketh for six months and if he keeps working hard, this guy can win a Grand Slam with others not just with me,” he added.
