Their commitment to country questioned after the pull-out from the Asian Games, India's top tennis players on Wednesday tried to put their decision in perspective by saying that they have an obligation to earn their "bread and butter".
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.
Following his title win at the Traralgon Challenger event, Indian tennis player Yuki Bhambri leapfrogged 73 places to 204 in the singles rankings on Monday even as Rohan Bopanna dropped out of the top-10 in the doubles chart.
In the ATP doubles, Leander Paes slid to 25, a loss of four places.
Mahesh Bhupathi says for India to host big-ticket WTA events, the country needs to produce a top-50 women's singles player, who can bring the fans to the stadium.
The Hyderabad lass was beaten by Poland's Marta Domachowska in the ITF Grade 1 tournament in Belgium.
Ramkumar Ramanathan paid the price of not containing his unforced errors as he made a first round exit from the ATP Chennai Open while his compatriot and qualifier Vijay Sundar Prashanth also bowed out after a crushing defeat, on Tuesday.
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Sania Mirza took a giant leap towards becoming the world number one player in the doubles by pocketing 1000 ranking points, following her stupendous title win in the Miami Open with partner Martina Hingis.
India's non-playing captain Anand Amritraj was upbeat ahead of the Asia Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie against New Zealand, to be played in Pune from February 3 to 5, but cautioned the Kiwis should not be taken lightly.
Yuki Bhambri recovered well from a poor start to beat New Zealand's Michael Venus in a three-setter and advance to the singles quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger event in Traralgon, Australia.
Sania Mirza is in line to win her third Grand Slam title and first with new partner Bruno Soares as the top seeded pair struggled past Yung-Jan Chan and Ross Hutchins to reach the mixed doubles summit clash.
Rafael Nadal will play for the Indian side in the second edition of the International Premier Tennis League.
Nagal said he would look to play more ATP Tour events this year but for that he would have to first improve his rankings.
On a day of upsets in the ATP Challenger, the Indian ace lost to Chinese Taipei qualifier Ti Chen.
Shifting of India's only ATP event from Chennai to Pune after 21 years has disappointed the Amritraj brothers.
Somdev Varman beat Frenchman Jordanne Doble to move into the singles final of the ONGC ITF Futures men's tennis tournament.
Sunil Kumar Sipaeya beat Somdev Dev Varman while Vishal Uppal got the better of Vijay Kannan in the ITF Futures tennis championship.
The 18-year-old, ranked 49th in the junior list, was given a place in the singles main draw of the event.
Ramkumar Ramanathan, who will be playing singles alongside Prajnesh Gunneswaran, will form the second men's doubles pairing with Sumit Nagal, who arrived only late on Friday night.
The top two seeds were beaten by Chen-Huan Yi of Chinese Taipei and Arun Prakash Rajagopalan respectively in the semi-finals of the Asian junior tennis championships.
\n\nThe third seeded Taipei player beat Tushar Liberhan to join Karan Rastogi, Somdev Verman and Arun Prakash in the semis in the Asian Junior tennis championships.
The Indian Davis Cupper was beaten by unseeded Jasper Smit of The Netherlands in the pre-quarter-finals of the ITF Futures tounament.
The Wimbledon girls' doubles champion was beaten by Stephanie Dubois at the Canada Open.
An already depleted India suffered another blow on Saturday with Rohan Bopanna pulling out of the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Spain, claiming that he suffered a knee injury during the US Open.
The Sports Ministry has chosen 152 athletes across disciplines for Rs. 50,000 allowance per month for their preparations for next year's Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Sania Mirza, Sanna Bhambri and Somdev Varman lost in the singles first round at the French Open.
She joins Somdev Varman, who got a berth in the boys' draw.\n\n
However, Somdev Dev Varman and Karan Rastogi fell in the first round of the ITF Grade I tournament.
India were on Tuesday pitted against European powerhouse Spain as their Davis Cup World Group play-off opponents for the home tie as the International Tennis Federation announced the draw in London.
Continuing his excellent run at the ATP Indore Open, Indian youngster Ramkumar Ramanathan toppled Chinese Taipei Davis Cupper Ti Chen in a marathon contest to reach his first-ever Challenger-level semi-final in Indore.
The Indian wild card beat the Pakistani third seed to enter the second round in the ITF Futures tournament.
Yuki Bhambri will open India's Davis Cup campaign against Serbia, drawn against visiting side's No 2 player Dusan Lajovic for the first singles match of the World Group playoff tie, beginning in Bangalore on Friday.
India will field a second-string tennis contingent in this month's Asian Games after allowing frontline players, including Leander Paes and Sania Mirza, to play on the professional tours instead to revive their rankings.
In the boys section, Somdev Varman lost against Kasiri Miles of Britain.
Yuki Bhambri returned to India's Davis Cup squad for the World Group play-off tie against world No 2 Serbia, as the selectors named a six-member squad on expected lines. Somdev Devvarman, the country's No 1 singles player, will lead the squad.
Keeping its promise of honouring 'unsung heroes', the government this year honoured with Padma awards several personalities who served the poor, set up free schools and popularised tribal arts globally.
Saketh Myneni and Yuki Bhambri registered dominating straight-set victories as India completed a 5-0 rout of Chinese Taipei in the first round Asia/Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie in Indore on Sunday.
Rohan Bopanna's stupendous run at Wimbledon earned him a career-best No 5 ranking in the ATP doubles chart and made him the top-ranked Indian in the game.
India were handed a tough Davis Cup draw, being pitted against top seeds Czech Republic in the World Group Play-offs, to be held from September 18-20 either in New Delhi or Pune.
Taking exception to top Indian tennis players' reluctance to compete in the recent Asian Games, the Sports Ministry on Wednesday said individual players will be able to avail government grants only if they undertake to be available for India whenever called upon.
