Rafael Nadal to play against Ram Kumar Ramanathan on the first day of their Davis Cup World Group play-off tie in New Delhi on Friday.
Yuki Bhambri, making a comeback from an elbow injury, on Sunday qualified for the singles main draw of the Chennai Open.
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.
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.
Papa Rajinikanth apparently stayed with the couple after returning from the US, where he had been undergoing treatment for a kidney-related ailment, and hoped to effect a reconciliation. Unfortunately, it did not work out.
There will be no Indians in this year's French Open singles draw as all three contenders, including Yuki Bhambri, bowed out after second-round defeats in the Qualifiers in Paris.
The selection committee has picked World No. 246 Prajnesh as Yuki's replacement as he is the next best singles ranked player.
Prajnesh is now ranked 102 in the men's singles rankings with a jump of seven places while Ankita leapfrogged 35 places to a career-high 168 in the women's singles.
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.
In the absence of an injured Yuki, a lot would depend on how the left-handed Prajnesh, who won a singles bronze medal at the Asian Games, performs.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Spectators were on their feet cheering Leander Paes who in all probability is playing his last ATP event on Indian soil.
Tamil Nadu Tennis Association Vice President Karti Chidambaram says the top 5-6 players such as Yuki Bhambri, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sumit Nagal, Dhakshineshwar Suresh and Nitin Sinha should be supported to travel with a common coach and trainer, play 26 tournaments, out of which at least 18 are abroad, train for 20 weeks and have six weeks of rest in a year.
All eyes will be on veteran Leander Paes, who is the on the cusp of a historic world record in perhaps his last appearance in Davis Cup.
26 candidates in Amethi fray take away 60,545 votes; the difference between the victorious Smriti Irani and Rahul Gandhi is 55,120 votes.
'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'
'If you are a young Indian today instead of just going with the flow it is the right time to sincerely think what your passions are, and pursue it for a few years... we are the first generation in India for whom the risk of doing anything we are passionate about is almost zero,' believe two young IITians who have quit their cushioned jobs to help India's underprivileged get quality education at affordable price points.
Mukund is now the second Indian player to pull out of the tie after Rohan Bopanna had withdrawn due to a shoulder injury.
An elderly woman said since the young men have left, there is nobody to arrange for food and open water supply taps that bring water to the village.
Check out these pictures of the biggest wedding ever in the history of Tamil marriages.
India's big hope Yuki Bhambri crashed out of the US Open men's singles qualifiers with a three-set defeat to Japanese Go Soeda while Prajnesh Gunneswaran also suffered a tame defeat in New York.
Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna, who will represent India at the Rio Olympics as a team, may clash against each other at the Wimbledon pre-quarterfinals as they have been drawn in the top half of the draw at the men's doubles event. Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea, seeded sixth, open their campaign against Croatian pair of Marin Draganja and Nikola Mektic.
World number one Simona Halep swatted aside American Nicole Gibbs while Maria Sharapova was flawless in her straight sets victory over Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu in the opening round of the Shenzhen Open on Monday.
India's Sania Mirza continued to stay on top of the WTA women's doubles ranking following her recent victory in the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
India's Yuki Bhambri produced one of the biggest wins of his career as he shocked World No. 22 Gael Monfils in the second round of the Citi Open.
The All India Tennis Association may be backing Leander Paes to the hilt in him making the squad for the Rio Olympics, but the veteran star will not be picked in the Davis Cup team despite showing late interest in competing in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie against Korea Republic next month.
Beset by injuries to singles players and 'mistrust' between the Rio-bound doubles players, India would expect young Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni to rise to the occasion when they face Korea in the Asia/Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie, starting, in Chandigarh, on Friday.
Top seed Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan will take on the in-form Arjun Khade in the men's singles final of the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championships in Delhi on Saturday. The women's singles final will be between top seed Rishika Sunkara and Prerna Bhambri.
In Paes's absence, seasoned Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni will do the doubles duty in the July 17-19 tie, to be held in Christchurch.
Keeping the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mind, the sports ministry has included the doubles duo of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, who won the Asian Games gold last year, have been kept in TOPS scheme.
Halep sustained the injury last month while training for the Wuhan Open, where she lost in the second round. She then retired midway through her opener in Shanghai.
Bopanna also in reserves while four single specialists named in squad
It left the players and the team management disappointed and after discussing the matter among themselves, they have decided to approach the federation.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Third seed N Sriram Balaji overcame early jitters to quell a spirited challenge from compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan in his opening match at the CCI-ITF men's US $15,000 tournament 2012, at the CCI courts, in Mumbai, on Monday. The Chennai-based lad won 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 50 minutes.
Spain's World No 5 Rafael Nadal has been ruled out of opening singles rubber against India in their Davis Cup World Group play-off in New Delhi on Friday.
In an exclusive interview with PaGaLGuY, K Ramkumar, executive director (human resources, customer service and operations) at ICICI Bank voices his views about the importance of MBA classroom diversity from a recruiter's perspective, where b-schools are going wrong and what they could do better.
Get yourlowdown on what's happening in Tamil cinema.
K Ramkumar, Executive Director of ICICI bank hits out at the abysmal standards of today's B-schools
Ram Kumar Ramanathan will take on Seong-Chan Hong, ranked more than 200 places below him, in the first singles match of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania group-I tie between India and South Korea starting in Chandigarh on Friday.
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