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Unimpressive Show BY Indians At This Year’s Davis Cup : Nagal’s Loss the Final Blow

The performance Of Indian team in the Davis cup has been rather disheartening, to say the least. On Sunday, in the first reverse singles, Nagal lost to Marc Lopez. Nagal had come as a replacement for Saketh Myneni, the doubles partner of Leander Peas in the match against Spain on Saturday. He lost in straight sets to Lopez. The set scores were 3-6, 6-1, 3-6. The breathing problems which Nagal had made things even more difficult for him. Nagal did fight hard in the third set which lasted for a long time. Nagal was up against three break points but he successfully handled them. However, his breathing problems continued to harry him and became worse even after being attended by his trainer. Not in his fighting best, Nagal eventually lost the set and the match. Nagal was playing his first Davis Cup, and as expected he was a bit jittery. His nervousness reflected when he lost his very first service game. India desperately wanted to  win this match to avoid  the ignominy of a whitewash.

Photo Credit : thehindu.com
Photo Credit : thehindu.com

Sumit Nagal who hails from Haryana has won his credit Wimbledon 2015 Boy’s Double title. In this tournament, he partnered Vietnam’s  Lý Hoàng Nam. This feat earned Nagal the recognition of being the sixth Indian player to win a junior Grand Slam Title.

India’s performance this year at the Davis cup can be rated as best as dismal. Looking back in history, India’s best performances in the Davis was when India finished runners-up.in 1966, 1974 and 1987. In the 1960s, India managed to become the Zonal Champions time and again, and played the Inter – Zonal finals as well. 1966 is a year which cannot be forgotten in the Indian Davis Cup history. It was this year when Indian Davis Cup players Ramanathan Krishnan teamed with Premjit Lal, S. P. Misra and Jaidip Mukherjea in the finals. 1974 was no different  with the Indian doubles pair of Vijay and Anand Amritraj making it to the finals. 1980 witnessed the brilliance of the ace Indian tennis player Ramesh Krishnan who played an integral part to take India to the third Davis Cup Final. The famous Le-Hesh (Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi) pair  represented India in the Davis Cup of 2004. They secured 2 ties. I t also must be noted that since 2011 India hasn’t managed to get into the World Group.  It went into the World Group in 2011 after it defeated Brazil 3-2 in the match played in Chennai in 2010 Davis Cup. Last year India was seeded second in the Asia/Oceania Group-1.

Some of the notable losses for India in this year’s Davis were Ramkumar Ramanathan’s 2-6, 2-6 loss to David Ferrer. Saturday’s loss of Paes – Myneni pair to the Spaniards cannot also be forgotten.

Last week was the most intense week for the Indian Davis Cup players. Everyone in the team –players, coaches and the staff felt that they were facing a monumental task  since they were facing  five-time Davis Cup winners – Spain. Even the team selection was a bit of a surprise for a few. Current Davis cup ranking of India is 20 with 1910 points.

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