‘Next few years are going to be tough’

Coach Zeeshan feels the time has come to blood a new generation

India’s tame 1-3 tie last weekend has raised fresh questions about standard of the sport in the country. There is currently no Indian men’s singles player ranked in the top-150, and this year, in the Australian Open — courtesy a wild card — was the lone Major main draw singles match featuring an Indian. , Davis Cup coach, in an interview, said the next few years will be a period of painful rebuilding. Excerpts:

Both against Croatia’s Borna Gojo (rank 277) in the World Group qualifier last year and Finland’s Otto Virtanen (rank 419), we were hoping that Prajnesh [Gunneswaran] would win. He was ranked around 150. In Davis Cup, rankings don’t always matter but the player has to play as per his ranking. Yes, Virtanen played like a top-100 player, but it cannot always be the case that only your opponent rises to the occasion.

It has been six years since an Indian beat a higher-ranked player in the Davis Cup [164-Somdev Devvarman against 40-Jiri Vesely in 2015]. You have to reach beyond what you are capable of and the biggest example is Leander Paes. Ramkumar’s matches against [Marin] Cilic and [Emil] Ruusuvuori were close, but it never felt like he was in a position to win. The difference in class and the level of tennis showed.