Davis Cup 2010: India looking for 2-0 lead versus Brazil on the first day
Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman have refused to provide any easy passage to their higher ranked rivals on Thursday and are quite confident of giving India a 2-0 lead against Brazil on Friday during the first day of the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie.
Rohan was drawn versus the world number 27 Thomaz Bellucci where as Somdev who is ranked 113 in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals will take on Ricardo Melo in the second singles contest on Friday. Melo is 38 places above Somdev in the
rankings list.
"I am really looking forward to my tomorrow’s clash, to go out there and play at my very best and give my team the opening point of the tie. As far as my confidence level is concerned, it is skyrocketing at the moment,” said Rohan on Thursday who is ranked
as low as number 479 on the tour.
Somdev on the other hand is also hoping to win his match against Ricardo who is ranked number 75 in the world. They have played some really close matches against each other in the last two months. Therefore, the chances of winning the match are more or
less the same for both players.
Brazil's non-playing skipper Joao Zwetsch was also quite confident of a strong start for his team. He was of the view that in spite of the fact that Rohan has reached the United States Open doubles final this year and has been playing quite well, Thomaz
will manage to surpass him in today’s match. Thomaz has improved his game to a great deal over the last few seasons and he is definitely a tough opponent to beat beyond any doubt.
Zwetsch said, “In my opinion, rankings or draw makes no difference in the Davis Cup tennis competition. The tournament is all about a player’s mental strength and toughness and how well he handles his emotions on the court is what makes the difference in
the outcome of the game in the end. The entire atmosphere and pressure is so much more than any other tournament’s match as a player is not only playing for himself but carrying the pride of his entire country. Therefore, I am quite confident that Thomaz will
manage to overtake Rohan. All he has to do is to start the match well and remained focus till the end as a good start is really a key in winning the battle.”
In other action, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes will meet Bruno Soares and Marcelo Melo in the doubles contest on Saturday. Even though they are the favourites to win the match however, one thing is for sure that Bruno/ Marcelo, who reached the semi-final
round of the clay court French Open tennis tournament and defeated the best duo in the world, will give a tough competition to the Indian doubles team.
Paes while commenting on the match said, “In spite of the fact that we are the favourites to win the match but we should also keep this in mind that Davis Cup is always a different competition. Bruno and Melo are no mean players. Therefore, we will have
to stay focused and remain alert throughout the match in order to grab our chances. Tomorrow is definitely a big day for both of us and we are really looking forward to it. It will be a good test of the players in terms of their strength and physical fitness.
Both of us are completely ready for it. We will try to concentrate more on our serve and volley and ground strokes and won’t let them take easy game points from us.”
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