Davis Cup squad warms up for match against Lebanon

It will probably be a toss-up between Syed Fazaluddin and Prahlad Srinath, though Sunil Kumar, the fourth member, may just be a surprise pick. Fazal and Srinath arrive tonight and tomorrow morning respectively while Sunil is here having just won the Delhi-leg of the junior ITF circuit on Friday. Teampractice partners Mustafa Ghouse (also the reserve), Vishal Uppal and Paes got going under Ramesh’s careful eye, but the real practice (on grass, the surface at Lucknow) begins at the NSCI courts tomorrow.

Saying that Paes was looking sharp at today’s session, Ramesh added: “Lee had a good run, especially in the singles from the Lucknow and Jaipur Challengers (December last year). His doubles though has not been as good. Perhaps a trade-off that he has made.”

Ramesh said it was good Sunil was playing juniors. “One, he gets enough matches and two, he plays matches he’s supposed to win.”

Ramesh said he didn’t expect Lebanon to have too much grasscourt experience. On the issue of the coach, Ramesh, while saying that it didn’t make sense to have a coach just for one Davis Cup week, said he had discussed the matter with the All India Tennis Association (AITA), and pointed out that the national coach should work with all players, travel with them etc.

Paes, who has been to Lucknow early last month forthe Challenger and had seemed not too happy with the choice of Lucknow as venue, said: “I am really looking forward to playing Davis Cup again. And as this is the venue, we have to make the best of it.”

Paes on the hunt for partners
Leander Paes, talking about his Australian Open performance, said he was satisfied with his performance. “This is the first time I qualified at the Australian Open and won a match. It felt good to win those three qualifying matches.”

He was more ambivalent about his doubles though. “Doubles is more complicated.”

On his team-up with Canadian Sebastien Lareau in Mahesh Bhupathi’s absence, Paes said he may have to look for different partners for various events till Mahesh got back. “Both Lareau and my intersts are to get our singles going. Plus, we both play the forehand court. Given our singles commitments, we may have a problem. I’m going to have to play with different partners in the next few events — Dubai, Indian Wells, Lipton, though there is noconfirmed partner yet.”

Paes mentioned Wayne Black as a possible partner for Dubai, though it is as yet uncomfirmed.