Italy favourites, but grass favours India, says veteran Naresh Kumar

Naresh Kumar

India tennis veteran Naresh Kumar has been there, done that. He represented India at the Davis Cup where he beat Italian great Nicola Pietrangeli in the late 1940s. He also went on to successfully lead and reshape Indian Davis Cup tennis as the non-playing captain in the 1990s. Kumar spoke to mid-day at South Club yesterday ahead of India's Davis Cup World Group Qualifier against Italy that begins today. Excerpts

On India's chances v Italy:
Italy are favourites for this fixture, but they will be under pressure because historically they have not been comfortable on this surface. On the other hand, the Indians are relatively inexperienced but they are improving. So, it will be an interesting tie.

On grass being the Indian team's favoured surface:
It's true that the Indians wanted to play on grass since the Italians do not play too well on it. But the Indians haven't played much on grass, So one can't say if it will be an advantage for them.

On Indian team's composition:
The Indian team are together and not fighting each other and that's the most important factor. It would have been great to have Leander [Paes] here too, speaking to the boys, as the tie is in his hometown.

On the draw:
It's good that the India No. 2 [Ramkumar Ramanathan] will play against the Italy No. 1 [Andreas Seppi] first. Having said that, rankings do not matter in Davis Cup. It all depends on how you perform, under pressure, wearing the national jersey on that day.

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