New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS) Indian tennis ace Leander Paes, who won the US Open mixed doubles title with Swiss Martina Hingis last week, will arrive here in the national capital on Wednesday morning to take part in the Davis Cup World Group Playoff against the Czech Republic this weekend.
The rest of the squad comprising Yuki Bhambri, Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna is already here, preparing for the September 18-20 clash which, if they win, will elevate the team to the World Group in 2016.
“Leander is getting here tomorrow morning. He finished in New York only on Sunday; he had to address the press and stuff like that so he is getting here as soon as he can. My suggestion to him was to come on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning,” India’s Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj said at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Assocation (DLTA) Complex here on Tuesday.
“We have been waiting for his arrival. In the meantime, the others are getting as much practice as possible on the centre court as singles is a huge part of the tie, so that they get their time on the court.”
The non-playing captain added that when Paes arrives, he will try and get as much time on the DLTA courts as possible to prepare for the contest.
“When Leander comes, he can work out in the afternoon. The centre court is slightly different from the outside courts. So there is no point hitting on a court that is a lot faster. We will try and maximise our 3-4 hours on the centre court so when he comes, he is going to get used to it,” said the 63-year-old.
Paes had missed India’s previous Davis Cup encounter against New Zealand in the Group 1 Asia/Oceania second round. But the 42-year-old is making a comeback.
“Our team is a little bit stronger with Leander and Rohan in the doubles. They have the ‘scare factor’,” added Amritraj.
The World No.1 Czechs have never lost to India in three meetings, although their last tie was back in 1997. Czech Republic have won the Davis Cup twice in 2012 and 2013 and once as Czechoslovakia in 1980.
