A place among the top Davis Cup nations after eleven years,an incredible come-from-behind victory in the match that clinched the tie,and finally,a vision of Indias tennis future that offered a fair bit of hope surely the moment merited a few hours of festivity by those who made it happen. As it turned out,however,a glass of champagne was all the celebration the Indian team could squeeze in before rushing to catch their flight home from Johannesburg. Arriving in the Capital bleary-eyed and tired,Somdev Devvarman would have had to use his last reserves of adrenalin to deal with the endless demand for interviews that came his way; and just as he had done against Rik de Voest on Sunday,the 24-year-old dealt with the situation at hand with composure,even when the enquiries were not about tennis. Ive been hearing a lot about my hair, he laughed,referring to his wavy mop that has been kept far away from a haircut,perhaps as a superstition since his good run began with the hardcourt season. It would take a lot more than plain and simple luck,though,to explain the phenomenal shape that the Indian has worked himself into,testimony to which was his nearly five-hour victory in Indias World Group play-off on Sunday. Credit to the team But the player who did half the job for India constantly shifted talk away from himself to his team mates every time the eulogies began. Playing Davis Cup is a great change from playing on the Tour. Tennis is an individual sport,and when you have team mates to share moments with you,its much better. I have played as part of a tennis team through all my years in college,and this is like that,on a much larger scale of course, he said,looking around at Yuki Bhambri,SP Mishra,Nandan Bal and Vece Paes,who were all at a press conference organised shortly after the team landed in Delhi. I give a lot of credit to the rest of my team. The way Rohan played on Friday made it all a bit easier,and Yuki is unbelievable to hit with. Even the way he played against (Izak) van der Merwe was excellent. In my second singles,everyone knew it would be a tough match,especially since we know each other so well. But its one thing to have tactics and another to execute them. Im happy with the way I fought back in the second set,and winning the third. I had a lot of break points which I couldnt take,and that is probably something I need to work on. I kept looking ahead,stayed focused,and as the match was getting more and more physical,I could see Rik was dying, summed up Somdev,highlighting just how hard he has been working the last few months,through the good times and the bad. One for the future He was talked about as the teams mainstay even on his Davis Cup debut a few ties ago,regardless of his relative inexperience. A few matches after playing with the India shirt on his back,though,there remains no doubt that he will have a big role to play in Indias Cup future.
