Singles hold key against Czechs in Davis Cup tie, says Amritraj

Tribune News service

New Delhi, September 1

Former India player Vijay Amritraj on Tuesday said that if India wants to put up a fight against the mighty Czech Republic in the upcoming Davis Cup tie, then the top singles players will have to perform out of their skins, depending solely on the doubles pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna won't do.

Amritraj is of the view that India can only win the Davis Cup tie with good performance in singles matches; the critical element would be winning one of the first two matches on the first day.

“You cannot win by solely depending on doubles. You can only win it with a good show in singles as there are four singles matches. As far as Czechs are concerned, they are a very strong team. World No.4 Tomas Berdych is supposed to be coming, so it's going to be tough. Unless, we have players in the Top 50 or 100, we are not going to get to the World Group,” Amritraj said.

“We should hope for a good show from Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman on the opening day and a terrible day in office for Berdych. Czechs would be coming here from New York which is extremely hot. Delhi would also be hot during September. So, the conditions won't be very different," he added.

Amritraj said the lack of good quality singles players is hurting India's chances in the Davis Cup and a veteran like Paes cannot do the job alone every time. "We are not good enough in singles — as simple as that. Leander has just one match, so what after that? We have enough doubles players in the country. That is the not the issue. We just need to get better in singles if we want to break into World Group,” said Amritraj, who is now based in California.