The Hindu : Sport : Leander Paes happy to have Harsh Mankad in the team

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 20, 2005

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Leander Paes happy to have Harsh Mankad in the team

Special Correspondent

CAPTAIN'S ADVICE: Indian Davis Cup captain Leander Paes explaining some nuances of the game to Rohan Bopanna (left) and Harsh Mankad during a practice session. — Photo: AFP

NEW DELHI: The sun came out strong and bright to lift the gloom and help both the Indian and Swedish teams have a fruitful stint on grass, while captain Leander Paes and the country's No.1 ranked singles player Harsh Mankad threw a lot of light on the miscommunication regarding the selection of the Indian team.

Honest effort

In near darkness in the evening at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) courts, Harsh, addressing the media along with the captain declared that Davis Cup was top priority for him. Leander on his part said that he was keen to have the best players in the team and it did not take much convincing to make Harsh take the flight to Delhi and join the squad after he had expressed reservations about the same.

"Harsh explained his understanding of the situation. He thought that he wasn't welcome. I know Harsh from the time he was nine years old. He is one of the pillars of my team. He was humble enough to come and I will be honest with the team'', assured Leander.

"It is a tough game. There is a lot of tension when you are travelling on the Tour. I am fine. You can't do anything about what has happened. I will do my best'', said Harsh, even as he hoped that such a situation would not happen again.

Leander said that though the miscommunication was between Harsh and the governing body of the sport in the country, he had to back the `young gun' and that he was happy to have Harsh supporting the team's cause.

Keep healthy

The Indian team was happy to have two sessions on the grass courts, while the Swedes had to quickly pack up after one session, as one of its players, Andreas Vinciguerra, suffered dehydration.

"We tried to stay on court as long as possible. They are not tired, but the humidity has been getting to them. It is important to figure out how hard you can push the guys. The task is to keep them healthy for Friday'', said the Swedish captain, Mats Wilander.

Relieved to be practising on the grass courts, after having spent time on the hard courts the previous two days because of wet weather, Wilander said that the courts behaved as well as any grass court around the world.

"It is nice to start on grass. Grass court is a grass court. There is really not many great grass courts, and Wimbledon is no exception'', said Wilander.

Accomplished

Revealing the secret of the Swedish players being accomplished on all surfaces, Wilander said that they would spend seven months on the fast indoor courts during winter and the remaining five months on the slow clay.

"That is how we have complete players. Even Roger Federer is so good due to the same reason. I am disappointed with the Wimbledon grass getting slower. They look like doing whatever they can to stop their guys Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski from winning it'', said Wilander.

The Swedish captain once again emphasised that he was not willing to take India lightly as it had a good record in Davis Cup and also owing to the fact that the underdog always focused on the job much better and played its best, as Sweden had done against a formidable Australia last year.

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