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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, APRIL 6: Bone-dry grass, blistering heat, a score to settle and a place in the World Group play-off at stake. It’s going to be a pretty interesting, if uncomfortable, Davis Cup tie to watch at the RK Khanna stadium beginning here on Friday.
If, in the previous tie at Lucknow, the low, erratic bounce of the very average court was to India’s advantage, the even bounce of the centre court here will probably keep it even-steven. When India No. 1 Leander Paes got off the match court after about an hour’s session on it, the first thing he said was “It’s playing fast, very fast.” That is something the Koreans would like.
The Korean skipper has said that they liked the practice courts both at the NSCI and at the DTA complex, and liked the look of the match court, as compared to the ones they had seen in Malaysia. “In Malaysia, the mud is wetter, as a result, the ball keeps very low. We prefer it here, as the courts are dryer and the ball comes higher.” Yet, at the same time, the Indians will obviously hold the edge as they are used to the surface, which is found nowhere in South Korea.
Meanwhile, at the draw ceremony this morning Indian Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha — who came bang on time in very unpolitico fashion — got it absolutely right. He pulled out Korean No. 2 Yong Il Yoon’s name from the cup and the news that Paes would be playing first was greeted with some relief by the Indian camp.
As Indian captain Ramesh Krishnan put it after the ceremony, “It’s always better to put your best foot forward first,” and the psychological advantage of going one up cannot be discounted. Even while Paes has lost to Yoon in their two previous encounters, he has stated he is “out for revenge” and on grass, he looks good to get it.
So far at least, after Wednesday’s bout of indecisiveness, Joo has decided to stick with Yoon to partner Lee in the doubles, but that can be changed at the last minute depending on Friday’s results. However, if Korea take a 2-0 lead, though that seems unlikely (and even Joo stated that Korea is looking for a 1-1 scoreline at the end of Day One), Korea may just play him and go in for the kill. If it is one match all, then Yoon should definitely be seen in action on Saturday, as the Koreans are banking on the doubles rubber as their one sure bet.
Doubles is definitely the problem area for India, with even Indian skipper Ramesh Krishnan somewhat cagey when asked what India’s chances in the doubles were. Said Ramesh: “Well, you all know Mahesh (Bhupathi) is not here. I was not going to touch upon that, but anyway, he is recovering from injury. Having said that, I would like to add that we are not going to write off any of our five matches.”
Syed Fazaluddin, who will be playing the second singles against Korean No. 1 Hyung-Taik Lee will have to lift his game to a level far above what he had displayed in the February tie against Lebanon. The Koreans seem pretty confident about winning this match and Fazal has got to think on his feet this time round. For Fazal, this is crunch time — to make amends for various goof-ups of the last tie and to get over whatever mental stumbling block bothers him in tight match situations ever so often.
Korea meanwhile have history on their side. Seogwipo last year (they won 3-2), Seoul in 1990 (5-0) and 1980 (3-2); and Bharauch in 1989 (4-1) have all gone the south-east Asians’ way. But if you leave aside 1959 (when India got a walkover), Coimbatore in December 1977 (India won 4-1) and Delhi fourteen years ago (3-2 for India) have one thing in common with this tie — Ramesh was part of the team. While the current Indian captain made his Davis Cup debut in ’77, he and a very young Paes pulled the rabbit out of the hat in ’91. So perhaps it will be third time lucky for Ramesh.
All this apart, the bottomline is that grass being grass, it really should be advantage India.
Draw: Match 1: Yong-Il Yoon vs Leander Paes; Match 2: Hyung-Taik Lee vs Syed Fazaluddin.
