India's Davis Cup captain Leander Paes admitted there are egos to be handled in the team but expressed confidence that his boys will come out trumps in the match against Japan.
Former 100 metres world champion Tori Bowie has died at the age of 32.
His recent success on the ITF circuit on Tuesday fetched teenage sensation Yuki Bhambri a place in the Indian Davis Cup squad for the crucial World Group play-off tie against South Africa scheduled September 18 to 20.
David Ferrer crushed Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 to fire depleted champions Spain into the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup on Sunday and set up a clash away to nine-times winners France.
India won the opening singles to take a 2-0 lead over South Korea on Day 1 of the Asia/Oceania Group-I tie against South Korea, in Chandigarh, on Friday. After young Ramkumar Ramanathan made a winning Davis Cup debut, scoring a hard-fought 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, 6-5 (15-15) victory over Seong Chan Hong in the first singles, Saketh Myneni got the better of Yong-Kyu Lim 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 5-2.
AITA brought back old warhorse Leander Paes in the Davis Cup team despite 'reservations' from seasoned campaigner Rohan Bopanna.
Andy Roddick will lead the United States against 2006 champions Russia in this month's Davis Cup final.
Leander Paes made a return while Yuki Bhambri was left out of a five-member Indian squad picked for the Davis Cup World Group first round tie against Russia in Moscow from March 5-7.
"He's got a severe strain in the area between the calf and the Achilles' tendon in his left leg," federation doctor Angel Ruiz-Cotorro told the RFET Web site.
Interestingly, the allegations against Indian arm of the world's largest pharma maker also relates to its acquisition of the Indian subsidiary of Parke Davis by Pfizer in 2000.
Spain's hopes of a hat-trick of Davis Cup triumphs ended when they fell 3-0 behind to France in Clermont-Ferrand after losing Saturday's doubles rubber.
Chairman of selectors Shyam Minotra said Amritraj, the highest ranked Indian on the ATP at 317, deserved to be in the team.
Non-playing captain Shiv Prakash Misra on the new Davis Cup team, the ban and future of Indian tennis.
Serbia's decision to leave Novak Djokovic out of the doubles rubber of their Davis Cup final against Czech Republic was "like leaving a Ferrari in the garage", victorious opponent Radek Stepanek said on Sunday.
India salvaged some pride by winning the two inconsequential reverse singles to reduce their margin of defeat against Uzbekistan to 2-3 in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I second round tie in Namangan (Uzbekistan) on Sunday.
Tennis Australia has filed an appeal against the International Tennis Federation's decision to approve Chennai as the venue for next month's India-Australia Asia/Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie. The ITF will hear the appeal later this week and decide on Tennis Australia's request to shift the tie out of India on security grounds. It had cleared Chennai as the host city despite the Australian federation's concerns about coming to India.
Injured United States striker Charlie Davies was ruled out of this year's World Cup after failing to make the preliminary squad named on Tuesday.
Pakistan's tennis authorities are upset over the ITF's decision to change the venue of their group one tie against New Zealand from Lahore for security reasons.
A round-up of results from Davis Cup matches played on Saturday and Sunday
AITA won't force any player to travel to Pakistan and is willing to send even a second-string team to avoid suspension
The draw for the September 19-21 play-offs was announced on Wednesday.
Croatia and Argentina reached the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, winning in doubles to take unassailable 3-0 leads over Chile and Netherlands respectively. Seven times champions Sweden took a 2-1 lead over Israel with doubles victory for Robert Lindstedt and Simon Aspelin over Andy Ram and Amir Hadad.
World number four Andy Murray has withdrawn from Britain's Davis Cup tie against Lithuania in March and will in future discuss his participation with the Lawn Tennis Association before every match.
The magnificent Murrays, Andy and Jamie, put Britain within touching distance of a first Davis Cup triumph for 79 years with a doubles victory over Belgium duo David Goffin and Steve Darcis in Ghent on Saturday.
Andy Murray put down an early warning for the Davis Cup final when he dismantled David Goffin 6-1, 6-0 in awe-inspiring fashion to reach the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Thursday.
Ivo Karlovic and Marin Cilic won five-set marathons at home to put Croatia 2-0 ahead of 32-time champions United States, while Israel stunned favoured Russia to also lead 2-0 in the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Friday. Champions Spain were held to 1-1 by Germany in Marbella, and the Czech Republic and Argentina were tied after the opening two singles in their best of five tie.
The Indo-Australian pair will now meet the sixth-seeded Argentine duo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.
Shapovalov made the world take note of him with his shock win over Rafael Nadal at the Montreal Masters. He then became the youngest player to reach the fourth round of the US Open, only his second Grand Slam, last week.
Rafael Nadal will play Sergiy Stakhovsky in Friday's second Davis Cup singles rubber after Spain announced their lineup for the World Group playoff at home to Ukraine on Thursday.
Rafa Nadal has returned to the Spain team as they seek to maintain their Davis Cup World Group status with a playoff tie against Ukraine in Madrid later this month, captain Alex Corretja said on Monday.
Djokovic etched his name in history by clinching a record 24 Grand Slam titles
He was included in the Davis Cup team for the Asia Oceania Group 1 tie against New Zealand from February 6 to 8.
Juan Del Potro's tennis career looked over after a second wrist injury sidelined him for the best part of two years in 2014 but the Argentine enjoyed one of his greatest moments when he led his nation to their maiden Davis Cup title.
"The prime minister raised the issue of Kim Davy's extradition and hoped that Denmark would take into account India's sensitivities and extend full cooperation. The Danish minister assured that Denmark was seized of the matter," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
Defending champions Serbia will be huge favourites to reach the Davis Cup semi-finals this weekend as newly-crowned Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic returns to action against Sweden.
Indian tennis legend Mahesh Bhupathi was named the new non-playing captain of the Davis Cup team and will take charge after the Asia/Oceania zone group I home tie against New Zealand in Pune from February 3 to 5. The tie against New Zealand will be Anand Amritraj's last tie as non-playing captain as AITA wants to give him a "farewell". Multiple Grand Slam winner Bhupathi was the hot favourite the moment AITA decided to replace Amritraj.
In a moral victory for the All India Tennis Association, the International Tennis Federation has given the AITA the right to host its next Davis Cup tie against Australia, which had forfeited its previous rubber on security grounds in May.
The Indian Davis Cup team, whitewashed by formidable Spain in the World Group Play-off tie, were seeded second behind Kazakhstan in the Asia/Oceania Group 1.
The doubles specialist made the team at the expense of Prakash Amritraj, who was rendered ineligible after the new sports policy that bars foreign passport holders from representing the country. Amritraj holds a United States passport.
