look news india
The journey of the Indian tennis team ended with a very disappointing defeat in the World Group Playoff tie of the ongoing Davis Cup tennis tournament on the tennis courts of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. After the decisive matches played on Saturday, host South Korea won the match by defeating India by an unassailable margin of 3-1. The Indian team, which was trailing 0-2 after losing both the singles matches on the opening day of Friday, had definitely raised hopes of a comeback by making a strong counterattack in the doubles match on Saturday morning, but in the first reverse singles (reverse singles) match, the very poor performance of the country’s top seeded player Sumit Nagal completely dashed these hopes.
Considering the do or die situation of the match on Saturday morning, the Indian team management made a big strategic move. The non-playing captain of the team made a change in the previously announced plan and replaced Nikki Poonacha with young and energetic player Dakshineshwar Suresh on the court for the doubles match with experienced N Sriram Balaji. This bold decision of the management proved to be absolutely correct. The new pair of Dakshineswar and Balaji displayed tremendous coordination and aggressive service and defeated the veteran Korean pair Ui-Sung Park and Ji-Sung Nam in a tough match 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. In this breath-taking match that lasted for three sets, the Indian pair showed excellent control on both the baseline and the net and added the first important point to India’s account making the score 1-2.
After the sensational victory in the doubles match, there was a wave of enthusiasm in the entire Indian camp and all eyes were fixed on the team’s number one player Sumit Nagal. Sumit’s win was essential for India to level the match and take the tie to the fifth match, but as soon as he entered the court, the Indian star seemed to lose his rhythm completely. In the scorching heat of Seoul and the fast court conditions, Sumit was simply unable to match the sharp forehand and dashing returns of Korea’s number one player Soonwoo Kwon. Due to continuous unforced errors throughout the match, Sumit lost the match in a one-sided manner by 1-6, 2-6 in just over an hour. With this defeat of Sumit, Korea achieved an unassailable lead of 3-1 and there was no need to play the final formality match.
If we analyze this entire match, the biggest loss for India was on the opening day itself on Friday. On the first day, Indian players had to face defeat in straight sets in both the singles matches, due to which the team was on the backfoot on the very first day. In a big tournament like Davis Cup, it is always very challenging for any team to bounce back from 0-2 down on foreign soil. Although the victory of Balaji and Dakshineswar in the doubles had shown a ray of hope, the failure of the top players to play up to their level in pressure moments became the main reason for India’s defeat.
This defeat in Seoul has once again exposed the lack of strong singles players in Indian tennis and the lack of consistency in their form. The determination and maturity that is expected from Sumit Nagal in big matches was missing in this important match. On the other hand, the performance of young Dakshineswar Suresh in the doubles category was a big positive for Indian tennis, who played one of the memorable matches of his career under international pressure. Now the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and the national selectors will have to seriously work on grooming new players and strengthening the singles bench strength for future Davis Cup ties.