Mumbai: The All India Tennis Association (AITA) plans to repeat the same set of players who beat South Korea 4-1 in July, to play the upcoming Davis Cup World Group Play-off against Spain to be held in New Delhi from September 16-18.
The controversial duo to Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna will continue to be a unit with Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan taking charge of the singles. With Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman unavailable due to their respective injuries, AITA has no choice to experiment with the team combination.
After an early exit of Paes- Bopanna in the open round of the Rio Olympics, there will be immense pressure on them to put up a good game to challenge the Spaniards. On paper, Spain not just boasts of a better line-up of players than India, but also has players in singles top-100 ranking. Whereas, the only highest ranked player from the Indian side is Saketh Myneni who holds a rank as low as 143.
Winner of 14 Grand Slams, Rafael Nadal, may seem to be missing in action as his participation depends on his performance at the soon-to-start US open. If he makes it to the semi-finals, he is likely to give the said tournament a miss.
The Davis Cup commences from September 16 to 18. The AITA selection panel is likely to announce the team on Saturday.