The All India Tennis Association has decided to invite India's top players for a training camp at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association in New Delhi with an aim to provide a platform for their return to competitive action from next year.
Andreas Seppi experienced some early hiccups before getting past Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-2 in the opening rubber, while 22-year-old Matteo Berrettini made a winning Davis Cup debut, cruising past India number one Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-4, 6-3.
Wimbledon finalists Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are on a semi-final collision course at the US Open after they were placed in the same half of the draw.
Following is India's schedule on Day 2 of competitions at the 18th Asian Games on Monday.
Ramkumar, who ended a runner-up at the Newport event last week, lost 4-6, 4-6 to American Taylor Fritz.
India's best player Yuki Bhambri is back in the squad and that changes the dynamics for the three-day rubber.
AITA said it had come up with an intermediate plan with the support of the country's government to reduce some of the pain for the lower-level professionals. India is currently in lockdown till May 3 and it was assumed that travel restrictions would be lifted in the next two months, the AITA said.
The AITA selection committee, on Tuesday, decided to keep veteran Leander Paes in the five-member playing squad for the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Croatia, making Divij Sharan the reserve member.
India's Nagal draws world No 128 Bradley Klahn in opener.
India's number one tennis player Sumit Nagal is left with less than Rs one lakh in his bank account and a morose feeling of not leading a good life.
Surprisingly, Yuki Bhambri has preferred a smaller $50,000 Challenger tournament in Kobe, Japan, while Ramkumar Ramanathan has to attend a mandatory ATP educative programme in London.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on the fifth day of the Asian Games.
Italy's Fabio Fognini said it was a 'strange feeling' playing a Davis Cup tie with no fans. Japan were also playing their tie against Ecuador in an empty stadium in Miki because of the coronavirus spread, which has played havoc with sporting fixtures across the world.
Bopanna also in reserves while four single specialists named in squad
World No. 16 Marco Cecchinato will spearhead Italy's challenge, while they also have the experienced world No. 37 Andreas Seppi as they look to continue their good record against India.
At one stage Yuki was a break up, serving for the opening set but lost his serve and eventually the set. After drawing parity, Yuki twice lost his serve to fall behind 0-3 in the decisive set and never recovered.
Serbian Djokovic, 31, needed elbow surgery in February to cure a problem that surfaced in 2017, but after some jarring defeats he returned to the kind of domination he achieved in 2015, winning Wimbledon and the US Open.
'The most confusing part as a player is even though the entry deadline has passed for Olympics, we have no idea on what the exact cut off of rankings are.'
In a big setback to the Indian Davis Cup team, country's leading singles player Yuki Bhambri was, on Sunday, ruled out of the upcoming tie against Uzbekistan due to a knee injury.
Leander Paes said he is currently busy working on a biopic to portray the father-son duo's legacy on the big screen.
Monday was also the first time in more than two decades that India had more than one player in the main draw of a Grand Slam singles, with Prajnesh Gunneswaran losing to world number five Daniil Medvedev in an earlier match.
Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal has withdrawn from the country's upcoming away Davis Cup tie against Finland citing a hip injury and has been replaced by Saketh Myneni in the five-man squad for the indoor contest on September 18-19.
Bopanna being the highest-ranked doubles player in the country is automatic choice for the doubles rubber.
Senior pro Leander Paes's place in the Indian Davis Cup team will be up for discussion when the AITA Selection Committee meets on Monday to pick the squad for the upcoming Asia/Oceania Zone tie against Uzbekistan.
Zeeshan Ali, the captain and coach of the men's team, has no clue about Paes's arrival three days before the start of the competition on Sunday.
Australia eased ahead of Bosnia 2-0 as John Millman thumped Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 6-2 while Alex de Minaur overcame Mirza Basic 6-3, 7-6(0), before Millman revealed the team's larger goal under captain Lleyton Hewitt.
Win is the only thing on Seppi's mind and he is focussed on giving his country the lead on Friday.
Former Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj is baffled that India's best singles players are not able to win close matches on the ATP World Tour despite having a decent game to back them.
Bindra realistic after the Haryanvi takes a set off Federer in US Open first round.
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.
No Indian Davis Cup squad has travelled to Pakistan since March 1964 and in that tie, held in Lahore, India had won 4-0.
AITA won't force any player to travel to Pakistan and is willing to send even a second-string team to avoid suspension
Top seed Somdev Devvarman struggled past Ramkumar Ramanathan, who was troubled by cramps, but Yuki Bhambri made a fluent start with a straight sets victory in the US$ 50,000 ATP Challenger event, in Chennai.
'The only thing I am feeling bad right now is, if he had decided earlier to not come even two weeks or 10 days ago, we would have got a specialist doubles team in place'
Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan used all their experience to bounce back and enter the men's doubles final of the Asian Games, in Palembang, on Thursday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Yuki, ranked 93, has told AITA that if he gets direct entry into the last Grand Slam of the season, he won't be available.
Veteran tennis player Rohan Bopanna said he plans to team up with Divij Sharan and represent India in the men's doubles event in next year's Tokyo Olympics.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
According to the latest rankings issued on Monday, the left-handed Sharan is ranked 50th after gaining a place. He had reached the final of the last three tournaments he participated in, winning the ATP 250 European Open, while ending runner-up at Challenger events in Brest and Tashkent with different partners.
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