Kiwis take stock of grass and Paes

New Zealand Davis Cup team, though not feeling any pressure being the ‘underdogs’, are wary of the ‘grass factor’ and Le...

New Zealand Davis Cup team, though not feeling any pressure being the ‘underdogs’, are wary of the ‘grass factor’ and Leander Paes during the Asia-Oceania Group I second round tie against India beginning here on Friday.

“It is tough to play on grass, which is quite like an unknown thing to us. It will also be tough to play against Paes as he is extra motivated while playing for his country,” Glenn Wilson, New Zealand team captain, said after a practice session at the South Club ground, the venue of the Davis Cup matches.

Leander out of
Nasdaq-100 doubles

Key Biscayne: Seventh seed pair of Roger Federer of Switzerland and Max Mirnyi of Belarus defeated sixth seed India’s Leander Paes and his Czech partner David Rikl 7-5, 6-3 in the doubles championship of Nasdaq-100 Open yesterday.

The four-member New Zealand team arrived here this morning barring the lead ranker Mark Nielsen, who is scheduled to reach tomorrow. Terming themselves as the ‘underdogs’, the former Davis Cupper said the inexperience of the Kiwis in grass courts would be the biggest problem for the visitors.

Story continues below this ad

“The most difficult challenge in this round is not Paes or (Mahesh) Bhupathi, it is the grass,” Wilson said, but expressed satisfaction at the even surface of the court.

New Zealand, who got past Pakistan in the previous round, had suffered a humiliating 1-4 defeat against India in the Davis Cup tie last year on their home soil.

While the 338th ranked Nielson, the highest singles rank holder among the two teams, would be the mainstay of the Kiwis, Wilson said they would like to face Paes in the second singles “so that we can take him on after winning the first match”.

Besides Nielson, the other members of the team are James Shortall (singles rank 1113), Alistair Hunt (1336) and Robert Cheyne (989) – a new member in the squad that played against India last year. The doubles ranking of Nielson was 195 while that of Shortall was 590.

Story continues below this ad

The Indian team, comprising Paes (singles rank 1003, doubles rank 20), Bhupathi (doubles rank 4), Rohan Bopanna (singles rank 348) and Harsh Mankad (singles rank 463), have started assembling. While Mankad was already here, Bopanna and team captain Ramesh Krishnan were expected to reach later.

Paes, on the other hand, was expected to return from florida tomorrow and Bhupathi the day after.

Wilson refused to divulge his first team but said the big serving Kiwis, having an average height over six feet, would like to play it from the base line to counter the tricky ground shots of the Indians.