Davis Cup | Mahesh Bhupathi rues missed opportunities against Italy

Davis Cup | Mahesh Bhupathi rues missed opportunities against Italy

no photo

Mahesh Bhupathi, who is the non-playing captain of the Indian Davis Cup team, admitted that his side did not seize the opportunities that came their way in the qualifier against superior-ranked Italy. The Italians took a 2-0 lead against India on the opening day of the encounter in Kolkata.

The Indian tennis team, under the guidance of former Grand Slam winner Mahesh Bhupathi, had a disappointing start to their Davis Cup qualifier against Italy in Kolkata on Friday. The home team currently trail the Italians 2-0 after Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran both fell to disappointing defeats despite being in lead at various intervals in their respective matches.

Bhupathi, who is the non-playing captain of the Indian Davis Cup team, admitted that his players were under immense pressure during their tie against Italy while he also added that his players failed to make the most of the opportunities that came their way.

“When you are playing players, who have so much experience and are used to playing at a level, you have to take your chances. I am a firm believer that if you take your chances, you will get rewarded. That’s where the momentum swung."

India’s top-ranked singles player, Gunneswaran, echoed the sentiments of the Indian veteran as he added that, “We understand the pressure that comes with playing for the country. The job of everybody in the team is to keep all of us relaxed while at the same time we want to win. Nerves and tension got to me. It’s a learning experience for me. I gave my best, Seppi was better today. He deserved to win.”

However, the Indian Davis Cup team found themselves in a similar situation last year against China but recovered well to beat their Asian counterparts by a score of 3-2. Bhupathi is expecting a repeat show of the same from his squad and will rely on doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan to come through on Saturday

“There is no doubt that we are disappointed but tomorrow is a light day and stranger things have happened. We are not going to rule ourselves out. We will try and win the doubles, we will try and chip away one by one and see what happens,” Bhupathi concluded.

Cricket FootBall Kabaddi

Basketball Hockey

SportsCafe

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all