India will be without their highest-ranked singles and doubles players, Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri, respectively, for the Davis Cup 2025 World Group I play-off tie against Togo scheduled on February 1-2. The duo have made themselves unavailable because of some dispute with the administrators. Team India captain Rohit Rajpal admitted the duo has grievances with the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and hoped they will return to action soon. “Yuki and Sumit both have played for the country. They have some grievances with, I think, a couple of people in AITA, which need to be sorted. We are working towards it. But I still believe that you know, from my captain, Vijay Amritraj, our values that we passed on to the generations and that were passed on to me is that, you know, your nation comes first.
“There are no conditions that you put on playing for your country. No matter what it is, you drop everything and you come and play for your country. That’s what I expect from my players, and that’s what my seniors taught me as well. So those values need to be instilled. We need to get these boys back, playing for us. And I’m hopeful that the boys will be coming back to the team,” Rajpal told IANS.
The Davis Cup squad to play Togo comprises five members — Sasikumar Mukund, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Karan Singh, N.Sriram Balaji, and Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli. Alongside, Aryah Shah, Chirag Duhan, and Yuvaan Nandal have been added to the squad. They will be training along with the Indian team and it will be a great exposure for each of them.
Rajpal went on to point out the importance of grooming youngsters alongside preparing the team to the best of his ability.
“That’s very important for us to do. We’re doing it very consciously. You know, a lot of our players are turning to doubles. They’re also ageing. So we definitely need the next batch now coming and knocking on the doors. It’s very important because every good player does not make a good Davis Cup player.
“Davis Cup pressure is very, very different from playing for yourself on the tour. So the next batch of players where we have all these boys coming in, Aryan, Chirag, Yuvan, Manas, these are the future, I think, of Indian tennis.
“It’s important for them to practice in a Davis Cup atmosphere, sit on the bench, and understand and get conditioned to the pressures that Davis Cup brings to you. So, that’s what we’re doing at the moment, getting them this kind of exposure so that when they come on the court first time, they’re not new to this kind of pressure,” he added.
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