Ramkumar in motion.
| Picture Credit score: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP
The Indian Davis Cup staff seemed like a contented place after the host took a 2-0 lead on Day One in every of its tie towards Togo on Saturday with smiles and banter, issues lacking for some time now from the staff’s locker room. And Sasikumar Mukund admitted the gamers and workers had been lastly in a very good house.
“I really feel the drama was at all times with every little thing else aside from tennis. I don’t suppose it has something to do with the results of the tie, it’s about how you retain some folks off the Gamers’ Lounge, which I believe Rohit (Rajpal) did effectively this time. I didn’t see some faces that you just usually see, making an attempt to do issues which aren’t wholesome for the staff. So long as you do this, I believe it’s going to be wholesome and on the finish of the day, the tennis consequence, no person cares. All of us are right here to offer our greatest effort and you may’t do greater than your greatest,” Mukund quipped.
The matches themselves had been simpler than anybody anticipated and each Mukund and Ramkumar Ramanathan agreed. “It was a very good serve day. What I’ve been engaged on the final 10-20 days got here good at the moment nevertheless it’s nonetheless not over. We’ve yet one more match to go, so we shouldn’t take it frivolously. We’ve to deal with tomorrow, carry on the identical vitality and end this time,” Ramkumar mentioned.
“I used to be fairly certain if I bought the primary few video games going. I used to be going to run by means of. I had full confidence in my physicality and psychological composure. If I needed to go on for 3 hours, I used to be joyful to do it and if I needed to play fifty photographs for every level, I used to be prepared. I knew he needed to play phenomenal tennis to get one level off me,” Mukund added.
Togo captain Ali Agnamba, in the meantime, made no effort to cover his displeasure along with his gamers’ efficiency. “Undoubtedly not a very good day for us, I hoped for higher. I can let you know my guys had been somewhat flat, I don’t know why. We even have one man with a slight damage however we aren’t going to make that the centre of our loss at the moment,” he mentioned.
Thomas Setodji, the one ranked participant for the guests, agreed that the distinction between the 2 groups was huge. “To be trustworthy, we don’t compete that a lot. My final match was our final Davis Cup match in September. And earlier than that I performed a few matches through the summer time. On the stage your gamers play, we’ve got to compete on a regular basis through the 12 months,” he admitted.
Revealed – February 01, 2025 09:49 pm IST
