India opened their Davis Cup season on a tough note, losing the matches 0-2 against Sweden, all at the Royal Tennis Hall. It was a pretty tough opening for Indian tennis players against their Swedish opponents; N Sriram Balaji and Ramkumar Ramanathan lost, and this is not exactly the start an Indian team would have wanted. The top singles player, Sumit Nagal, too, is missing due to an injury in his back.
Balaji and Ramanathan Struggle
In the singles, N Sriram Balaji, usually a doubles exponent, went up against Elias Ymer. The inexperience of singles play was evident, as Ymer won the match fairly easily, 6-4, 6-2. Balaji put up as good a show as possible, but his skill and preparedness were well beyond his opponent’s shoulders. This would indeed make the rest of the day quite taxing for him.
The other disappointing match was Ramkumar Ramanathan’s match against Leo Borg, the son of legendary tennis player Bjorn Borg. Ramanathan is a seasoned Davis Cup player. He, however, could not get into any rhythm in this match. He went down 3-6, 3-6 to Borg, who himself is lower ranked but played exceptionally well. Ramkumar’s performance did not meet his expectations, and the struggle was visible throughout the match.
India’s Davis Cup Challenge
The Indian team had pinned its hopes on Ramanathan, who was expected to bring India back into contention. Unfortunately, his defeat compounded the team’s difficulties. The pressure will all fall on the remaining matches on Sunday, and India needs to win all three to stay in the race for next year’s Qualifiers.
In the forward-looking sense, Captain Rohit Rajpal has a few tough decisions to make. Whether he plays Balaji and Ramanathan or decides to mix things up with a different lineup will be absolutely crucial. Having the ability to win the match back from a deficit of 0-2 has happened before, so there is still plenty of hope, but India badly needs a comeback.
Earlier, India has come from behind to level the tie at 1-2 after being down 0-2 in the previous instances, and there are examples where they outplayed Brazil in 2010 and China in 2018. Such a history assists the side that still all is not lost.
Conclusion
Day one was an opening round in favor of India in the Davis Cup. The losses to Ymer and Borg, however, placed the team in a tight spot. They had to beat every remaining game cleanly to make it through to the next round, but then again, it would be a comeback to remember. Challenged, though, is sure that the team and their supporters are looking to bring about a turnaround, as India still has every chance with determination and strategic adjustments to go on to the next round.
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