The NSCI grasscourts would be pretty worn out by the time the Indian and Uzbekistan Davis Cup teams pack up and head for the DLTA for the real thing. The Uzbeks’ doubles chances have already been written off by the Indian camp, and in fact, strong singles players are the ones India would have to contend with, notwithstanding their knowledge of grasscourt shoes. With a view to that, today’s rigorous training sessions focused on Rohan ‘Bofors’ Bopanna. Prakash Amritraj missed practice today due to an upset stomach.Captain Leander Paes (picture right) and coach Nandan Bal appeared satisfied with the way he shaped up. “We concentrated on Rohan today, and he played superbly. We tried out everything, from serves, volleys, to the groundstrokes. “Obviously, he and Prakash have to take up the mantle now,” said the coach. “Somdev will be coming tomorrow, but his jetlag will have to be taken into account before he is fit to play matches. Mahesh will be arriving tonight,” Bal added. Paes also had words of praise for the 27-year-old. “Rohan was fantastic today, what particularly impressed me was his return of serve. Everybody talks about that big, booming serve of his, but if he works on his return of serve, he will do much better on the tour. “He has all the weapons, his groundstrokes are great, but consistency is what is needed,” said Paes.The current tie is all that is on the mind of the captain, and even though India’s next Cup commitment is also at home, the World Group playoffs are not even at the back of his mind. “This upcoming tie is the most important right now. It’s very difficult to watch from the sidelines. I was ready to play both singles and doubles, but I had to take a decision for the team. I am not fit enough to do what I want to, and the country comes first. I’m just making sure that the team is fully prepared,” he added.Paes said he has been keeping an eye on the team’s reserve players — Ashutosh Singh and Vishnu Vardhan — as well. “I’ve been watching them closely and making them work on fitness among other things — they’ll probably be glad to escape from me once the week ends,” he laughed.On a more serious note, though, Paes said fitness is what has to be improved if the rest of the world has to be provided some serious competition. “Look at Sania. Her ranking constantly goes up-down, up-down. She clearly can’t handle that level, she gets injured so easily. Fitness training is what we require the most,” he said.
