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.
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.
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.
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.
Mahesh Bhupathi said he has no 'personal agenda' in keeping Leander Paes out of India's Davis Cup team and said his former partner's decision to leave Bangalore mid-way into the tie was a final nail in the coffin.
He was included in the Davis Cup team for the Asia Oceania Group 1 tie against New Zealand from February 6 to 8.
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.
Ramkumar Ramanthan gave his all but it was not enough to stop Laslo Djere from winning his first Davis Cup match as India trail Serbia 0-1 in the World Group Play-off tie, in Kraljevo, Serbia, on Friday.
A fired-up Andy Murray showed his class to draw Britain level with Belgium on day one of the Davis Cup final after David Goffin's escape act from a two-set deficit had given the hosts the lead in Ghent on Friday.
India's top singles player Yuki Bhambri and Asian Games gold-medallist Divij Sharan have pulled out of the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Serbia due to injuries while Sumit Nagal has refused to join the team as a stand-by.
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.
India was left to battle it out in the Asian zone yet again after Ramkumar Ramanathan's defeat in the must-win fourth rubber of the Davis Cup match against Canada's Denis Shapovalov in Edmonton, on Sunday.
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.
The 17-times Grand Slam champion, looking to give Switzerland their first Davis Cup title, lost his first singles rubber against Gael Monfils on Friday five days after withdrawing from the World Tour final against Novak Djokovic.
Ties between US and Pakistan intelligence agencies have hit an all time low due to standoff over the arrest of American official Raymond Davis on murder charge compromising critical counter-terrorism operations including drone strikes targeting top terror leaders.
Rafael Nadal survived a spirited early attack from American Sam Querrey on Friday, before beating the Davis Cup debutant 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening semi-final rubber in Madrid.
The world number one has shrugged off jet-lag and is relishing Switzerland's Davis Cup clash against Romania.
Switzerland won home advantage in the first-round draw and are likely to opt for a fast court to counteract the claycourt supremacy of the Spanish.
Former Davis Cup player Premjit Lall on Wednesday passed away at his residence in Kolkata after a prolonged illness.
India have been seeded third in Group I of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania zone. They have been given a bye in the first round before taking on the winner of the match between Chinese Taipei and Kazakhstan in the second round, scheduled from March 6 to 8, 2009.
Rafael Nadal will lead Spain's challenge in the Davis Cup semi-final against the United States in Madrid next week.
The CBI sleuths were left red-faced after Davy's counsel pointed out during the court proceedings in Copenhagen that the arrest warrant issued by a special CBI court against his client had expired in January this year.
The United States on Wednesday expressed its gratitude to the families of two Pakistani men gunned down by Central Intelligence Agency contractor Raymond Davis for pardoning him and said the Department of Justice was investigating the shooting incident.
Spain's depth of talent and growing appetite for Davis Cup success mean the only team that could have given them a real run for their money in this year's final would have been "Spain B".
Roger Federer toughed out a 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-3 victory over Australia's Lleyton Hewitt to level Switzerland's Davis Cup World playoff tie at 1-1 on Friday.
Lopez was cheered on by 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal during his final event as a professional.
Britain reached the Davis Cup quarter-finals in bizarre circumstances on Sunday when Canadian Denis Shapovalov defaulted for inadvertently blasting a ball into the umpire's face.
United States national Raymond Davis, an alleged Central Intelligence Agency contractor who was arrested for gunning down two men in Lahore, on Friday insisted he acted in self defence and had diplomatic immunity during a hearing into murder charges against him at a Pakistani court, which adjourned the trial till March 3.
Australia's John Blom is the neutral umpire and India's Punit Gupta the chair umpire for the April 7-9 Davis Cup zonal play-off encounter.
Serbia's World No 2 Novak Djokovic has been left out of Saturday's doubles in the Davis Cup final against holders CzechRepublic, with Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac named to play against Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek.
The controversy over the killing of two Pakistanis by a United States consulate employee in Lahore took a new turn on Monday with a media report stating that the dead men were believed to be "intelligence operatives".
American official Raymond Davis, arrested for killing two Pakistanis in Lahore, may have headed a covert Central Intelligence Agency team that was tasked to secretly gather intelligence on the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which the United States feels is getting out of the shadows of the Pakistan army to launch a campaign of jihad against it and Europe.
Veteran doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi made a comeback for national duty as a five-member Indian team for the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan was announced in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Denmark on Tuesday assured India that it would undertake further techno-legal examination of its request for the extradition of Danish national Kim Davy, the main accused in the 1995 Purulia arms drop case, and initiate discussions on that basis.
Novak Djokovic began the fightback and Janko Tipsarevic completed the job as Serbia overturned a 2-1 deficit against Canada in the Davis Cup semi-final on Sunday.
Somdev Devvarman recorded his first Davis Cup win to keep India afloat in the second round tie against Chinese Taipei as both the teams were locked 1-1 on the opening day of the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I tie in Kaohsiung (Chinese Taipei) on Friday.
The BBC is not driven by an "agenda" but by purpose and will not be put off reporting impartially and without fear or favour, the UK-headquartered media organisation's chief has said days after the income tax department survey operation at its New Delhi and Mumbai offices.
A total of 24 teams will play in the knockout Qualifiers on February 1 and 2 to decide which 12 teams will play the year-end Finals.
