Davis Cup | Ramkumar Ramanathan to start off India’s campaign against Serbia

India will take on fifth seed Serbia in their upcoming Davis Cup group match. In the absence of the vibrant, Yuki Bhambri, the responsibility to power India to a win was handed over to the unpredictable - Ramkumar Ramanathan.

The reverse singles will be played on Sunday as Ramanathan will battle it out with Lajovic and Prajnesh, ranked 162, will play Djere. Ramkumar has played against Lajovic in 2017 and had emerged victorious but the Serbian is in the form of his life as he recently beat US Open finalist Juan Martin Del Potro.

“Not having Yuki while playing on clay court is not a big setback for us. Looking at the last nine months, Yuki has played one odd or two matches on clay. His ranking is higher than other two players but his game is not suited for clay. It would have been great to have him on the team but it still is not a great setback considering the surface. The good thing is that people like Ramkumar, Prajnesh and Balaji, they have been training in Europe on clay for the last few years. It’s not a new surface for these players. They are used to playing on clay. Ten years back, we did not have players, who could play on clay but now it is different,” Zeeshan told PTI.