The Indian Davis Cup team will be training at the University of Columbia in New York for a week before their World Group Play-offs tie against Canada, to be held in Edmonton in September, reported PTI.
This is the first time that such a camp has been organised to prepare for an away tie. The team will assemble in New York on September 4 and will leave for Edmonton on September 10. The World Group Play-offs will be held from September 15-17. “I wanted to get the boys together and practice indoors before the tie,” said the team’s non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi.
The All India Tennis Association has approached the Sports Ministry to fund the camp and the request is being assessed. The ministry, however, does seem keen to provide the financial support.
“There should not be any problem with [financial assistance] because we do fund training of athletes, including foreign training,” a ministry official was quoted as saying. “However, a decision will be taken after examination of the proposal.”
This is the fourth consecutive year that India has reached the World Group Play-offs. In their previous three appearances, India lost to Serbia in 2014, to the Czech Republic in 2015 and lastly to Spain in 2016. All three ties were held in India.
The last time that India played an away World Group Play-Off tie was against Japan in 2011. Japan had defeated India 4-1 in that tie.
“It makes sense to have this camp since Canada is far away,” India’s Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali said. “The players will be jet-lagged and would require a long recovery period. To get the players acclimatised to the conditions, it’s a positive step.”
He added, “It will be second week of the US Open in New York when we will be training there, so there is a good chance to get quality players to practice with other Indian players. Only Rohan [Bopanna] and Yuki Bhambri will be there [at the US Open] and others will have to travel to New York from Asian territory. The more we practice, the better for us.”
Bhambri and Saketh Myneni are expected to be back in the team, having missed the Uzbekistan tie in Bengaluru in April because of injuries. Bhambri is currently playing in the Citi Open in Washington, an ATP 500 tournament.
Prajnesh Gunneswran and N Sriram Balaji, who made their Davis Cup debuts in Bengaluru, are also likely to be included as reserves in the squad.
Ali also felt that if world No 10 Milos Raonic were to miss the tie, India would have a good chance to get back into the World Group. Raonic, who has had been battling injuries of his own, had lost to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon quarter-final in July 2017.
The last time India featured in the World Group was in 2011 when the team lost 1-4 to powerhouse Serbia in the first round.
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