On eve of their World Group Play-off Davis Cup match against India, the Netherlands skipper Tjerk Bogstra had a word about their rivals: ‘‘They have nothing to lose.’’ True to Bogstra’s prediction, the Indians decided to give it a go and, in the bargain, left many amazed. However, the sad story was that they signed off Day One with a 0-2 deficit after losing the two opening singles. Stacked against statistics, both Rohan Bopanna and debutant Prakash Amritraj were never in with a chance against Martin Verkerk and Sjeng Schalken. Consider this: Indians ranked 314 and 324 against the world No. 14 and 13 only meant the match was just a ‘‘formality.’’ The sunny side of Bhupathi Enthusiasm knows no bounds. India’s doubles ace Mahesh Bhupathi showed just that. With the Bopanna-Verkerk match pushing many to the edge of their seat, the Davis Cup site — which was the only source of ‘live’ information —went blink in the deciding fifth set. The eagerness of the fate of Bopanna prompted Jaya Krishnan, who manages tennisindia.org, to request Bhupathi for scores via SMS. A true sportsman that he is, Bhupathi sitting on the courtside readily acknowledged with timely updates. But Bopanna had other ideas. He almost did a Leander Paes today. The load of responsibility was on his shoulders and he was aware of it. ‘‘Playing three ties is a big ask,’’ he had said before the match. But today, he seemed equal to the task. Opening India’s campaign for only the second time — Japan being the first in an Asia-Oceania (Gr-I) qualifier — the big server from Coorg had his hands full. Look at the disparity: Verkek stood 6 feet 5 inches tall compared to Bopanna’s 6’2”; the Dutch was a French Open finalist this year on a surface near similar in nature — slow — with a 6,000 strong home support to egg on. This first-time dual between the two left Bopanna with just one ‘advantage’ — Verkerk has Davis Cup blues — his record isn’t great: Two played, one win, one loss. Not just that, he had also lost to a players ranked over 200. It was this factor that made Bopanna peak. The big-server played the match of his life — by far the longest ever — before bowing out 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 6-7 (7-9), 10-12 in a match that took 4 hours and 34 minutes to finish. This monumental 68-game match saw Verkerk boom down 43 aces to Bopanna’s 20. This slugfest was at its best in the do-or-die fifth where both slammed down 22 but fortune swung in Verkerk’s favour with 17. The India No 1’s highs included saving one set point in the second, then two set points in the 4th set tie-breaker to push Verkerk to the limit. Zeroing in on to the final set, Bopanna held serves five times under pressure at 5-6, 6-7, 7-8, 8-9 and 9-10, before falling on the sixth attempt. Meanwhile, Prakash’s much-awaited Davis Cup debut wasn’t great. Against a flawless Sjeng Schalken he lost 3-6, 1-6, 1-6. The match that lasted an hour and 27 minutes saw Prakash wilting under pressure and dropping serves when it mattered the most. In fact, in the second and third set he failed to hold win a point on service. ‘‘He will learn,’’ came the soothing words from Bopanna, who at least proved David’s point in a David versus Goliath encounter.
