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.
In a setback to India's medal chances in tennis at the Tokyo Olympics, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan missed the cut for men's doubles, which also rules out the country's presence in the mixed team competition -- its best chance for a podium finish.
The split means Djokovic is now left with his part-time coach and former world number eight Radek Stepanek.
The Briton he lost in the third round to slow court specialist Mariano Zabaleta.
Tommy Robredo won his first Masters Series title, defeating Radek Stepanek 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in the final in Hamburg
Andu Roddick beat Radek Stepanek 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to enter the third successive final at Queen's.
The American beat Radek Stepanek 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the Dubai Open.
Spain's David Ferrer, his eyes fixed on qualifying yet again for the ATP World Tour Finals, romped past fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the Vienna Open on Thursday.
Leander Paes, named a reserve in India's Davis Cup team for the Uzbekistan tie, is in line to win his first title of the season, albeit on the Challenger Tour, with Canadian partner Adil Shamasdin.
Sania Mirza, who is bidding adieu to the game, says she never had the fear of losing in her heart because it makes a player defensive.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi scored their first victory since reuniting as a team, overcoming a spirited challenge from Jean-Julien Roger and Horia Tecau in the first round of the ATP Apia International, in Sydney on Tuesday.
Leander Paes, on Sunday, won his first title of the season, combining with Canadian Adil Shamasdin to lift the Leon Challenger Tour tennis tournament's men's doubles trophy after a straight-set triumph in Leon.
Being the top seeds, the Indian Davis Cup team received a bye for the first round of the Asia/Oeceania Group I 2016 competition.
Indian tennis stars Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna made a rampaging start to their campaign at US Open as they advanced to the second round of the US Open along with their respective partners after notching up contrasting wins at Flushing Meadows, in New York.
Leander Paes will kickstart his US Open campaign with Czech partner Radek Stepanek against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia.
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna sqaundered a set advantage to lose to USA's Venus Williams and Rajiv Ram 6-2, 2-6, 3-10 in the Rio Olympics semi-finals on Saturday.
The wild card team of India's Yuki Bhambri and Michael Venus of New Zealand created a big upset at the Australian Open, shocking tenth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in Melbourne on Friday. They needed just 64 minutes to get the better of the experienced Dutch-Romanian pair 6-4, 6-4 in a second round match.
Leander Paes's dream of winning ATP year-end finals remained unfulfilled as the veteran Indian crashed out of the prestigious event along with Czech partner Radek Stepanek after losing a must-win Group B match in London.
Japan's Kei Nishikori and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus continued their Australian Open preparations by swiftly marching through to the quarter finals of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.
Novak Djokovic was given a scare in his North American hardcourt season opener but managed to prevail with a 7-5, 7-6(3) victory over Luxembourg's Gilles Mueller on Wednesday to reach the third round of the Rogers Cup.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi braved sweltering heat and a stiff challenge from Rameez Junaid and Adrian Mannarino to enter the second round of the Australian Open.
Sania Mirza's unimpressive campaign at Wimbledon ended on Thursday as she and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau lost to eight seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada and Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic in straight sets in the mixed doubles quarter-finals.
Serbian world number two Novak Djokovic forced the Davis Cup final against holders Czech Republic into a decisive fifth rubber on Sunday with a 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-2 win over Tomas Berdych in the opening reverse singles.
Seeking to clear the air around the negative perception created following comments of Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza, the AITA put on record how it aggressively pursued the case of Bopanna and Divij Sharan for entry into the Tokyo Olympics.
Many years ago, Leander Paes acted on a whim when he asked Mahesh Bhupathi, "Would you like to win Wimbledon?" and the tennis star says what followed was a partnership that brought many trophies for India.
The Czech Republic retained their Davis Cup title after Radek Stepanek ruthlessly exploited the inexperience of Dusan Lajovic in the decisive rubber to seal a 3-2 final victory over Novak Djokovic's Serbia on Sunday.
Images from the second day's play of the 2016 French Open at the Roland Garros
Britain's Jamie Murray gained an early claim to bragging rights over younger brother Andy when he combined with Brazil's Bruno Soares to win the Australian Open men's doubles title early on Sunday.
Veteran Indian star Leander Paes, who skipped Asian Games to get some valuable ranking points, vindicated his decision by lifting the ATP Malaysian Open with new partner Marcin Matkowski Kuala Lumpur.
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek will attempt to follow their victory over the Bryan brothers by toppling the Austria-Brazil pairing of Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares in the U.S. Open men's doubles final on Sunday.
Rafael Nadal reached the Olympic Games quarter-finals on Thursday, winning the first of 10 matches he will need to sweep in just four days if he is to secure triple Rio gold. The 2008 champion defeated Gilles Simon 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 for his eighth win over the Frenchman in nine meetings. Nadal, a 14-time major winner, is playing in his first tournament in two months after a wrist injury caused an early withdrawal from the French Open.
Somdev Devvarman recovered from his shock Chennai Open defeat against little-known compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan to edge past Belgium's Niel Desein in a tight opening round of the ATP Apia International qualifiers in Sydney on Saturday.
Wily Czech Radek Stepanek, the oldest player in the men's singles, will take his bag of tricks out on Philippe Chatrier Court against World No 2 Andy Murray as the French Open plays catch-up on Monday.
Roared on by 17,000 partisan fans Novak Djokovic fired Serbia ahead in the Davis Cup final on Friday but Tomas Berdych hit back for the Czech Republic to leave the tie delicately poised going into the weekend.
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.
Double Davis Cup winner Tomas Berdych has called for the annual competition to be played every two years, warning the current format was destroying tennis's top team prize.
Switzerland took advantage of Novak Djokovic's absence to open a 2-0 lead over last year's runners-up Serbia in their Davis Cup tie on Friday with Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka winning their singles rubbers.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi progressed to the semi-finals of the Sydney International, but Leander Paes failed to rescue his 2014 season from a poor start as he and Czech partner Radek Stepanek crashed out in the first round.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances