The Hindu : Sport : Uzbeks sweat it out in hot conditions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 27, 2005

Sport

Sport

Uzbeks sweat it out in hot conditions

Kamesh Srinivasan

READY FOR THE CHALLENGE: Harsh Mankad, Prakash Amritraj and coach Nandan Bal, discussing strategies to handle the Uzbeks. - PHOTO: RAJEEV BHATT

JAIPUR: They looked tall, strong, athletic and most importantly ready for a fight. The Uzbeks had come in advance and have been sweating it out in buckets in the heat and humidity of north India for about a week now. They may lack the experience, especially when it comes to playing the Davis Cup and that too on grass in an away tie, but the Uzbeks have weapons in their game to nullify the advantages of the home team in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania group `I' second round tie to be played at the Jai Club courts here from Friday.

"Istomin is a dangerous player. He is young and has got weapons. We need to be on top of our game. If we slip up slightly, we may be at the receiving end of some big serves. That is what I realised when I played him," said Harsh Mankad, who was at the receiving end against Denis Istomin.

Harsh lost twice to Istomin in the Futures tournaments this season, but it must be added that three of those four sets stretched into tiebreaks.

The Mumbaikar said that he was quite happy with his game following the semifinal appearance in singles in the Nottingham Challenger last week, but conceded that the situation was different this time as compared to the last tie against China.

"I am ready to play, given a chance. I am not thinking whether I would get to play or not but am preparing myself to be ready and I'm quite relaxed," said Harsh.

Brown grass

The grass looked lush green in the adjacent garden, but only brown on the tennis court. It played true and that was to the liking of the Uzbeks, who of course felt that the other practice facility at the Ashok Club had `more bad bounce'.

The entire staff of the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) has been busy preparing the arena, but had forgotten to bring the sheet to cover the centre-court.

Repeated spells of rain over the past few days has meant that the match court has soaked a lot more water than required, and may play slow and low.

However, with the sun beating down hard the court is likely to quicken though the bounce may not improve appreciably.

"I am feeling good under my feet," said Prakash Amritraj, quite happy to be on grass once again, as he was blissfully unaware of the nature of the centre-court.

"Let them fight as much as they want, my job is to execute my game. In Nottingham, the quad, groin and shoulder were hurting. The heat here means that I am absolutely fine and even the nose has cleared," said Prakash as he opted to look at the positive side of the energy sapping conditions.

"We have been playing around the world, so we are not worried about the heat and humidity. The surface is an advantage for the home team as our boys are playing on it for the first time.

Dustov and Istomin did a very good job against Indonesia in the last tie, though both were playing Davis Cup for the first time," said the Uzbek captain, Vadim Kutsenko, who has played numerous tournaments in India over the last decade.

Healthy respect

"I retired last year and am happy to help the team. This is my first tie as captain, and I am nervous. If the result is negative it may be because of my mistake also," said Kutsenko. The Uzbek captain revealed a healthy respect for his counterpart Leander Paes, who reached here on Tuesday evening.

"Leander is a great player. I don't think we have any chance in doubles. Our singles players are capable of a good game," said Kutsenko, who will be putting Farrukh Dustov and Istomin for singles duty while partnering Murad Inoyatov for the doubles with Istomin.

Jaipur has been a happy hunting ground for India, and Mahesh Bhupathi had played a sterling role in winning two singles matches against the tough Dutch team here in 1996. Paes himself had teased the wits out of the South Africans, Wayne Ferreira and company in 1994.

Coach Nandan Bal has already driven home the point in his team that it would not be an easy tie, and forced the players to sweat it out hard in training, with Asian junior champion Sanam Singh, Karan Rastogi and Vivek Shokeen assisting in the preparation. The Indian team will have one session on Wednesday with Paes joining forces. Since he plays only doubles these days, Bhupathi will be reaching here on the morrow.

Overall, the stage is set for an exciting clash between crafty experience against raw explosive power. Work was on at a hectic pace to get the temporary stands erected to help the spectators savour a thriller.

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