India will take on Morocco in a two-day World Group-II Davis Cup tie in Lucknow on September 16 and 17, which could mark as a farewell for the men’s double specialists. Lucknow last hosted Davis Cup tie in 2000 against Lebanon at the Awadh Gymkhana. Till now Lucknow has hosted Davis Cup tie five times, on four occasion Awadh Gymkhana was used as a court. Matches will begin at 12pm on Saturday and 11pm on Sunday.
This Davis Cup tie will be played in Lucknow’s Vijayant Khand Mini Stadium, though there is suspense over Bopanna’s retirement as Bopanna has been quoted as saying he would have loved to play his last fixture in his hometown Bengaluru. According to sources in the All-India Tennis Federation Rohan Bopanna is set to play his last match of Davis Cup in Lucknow. Win for India will ensure India’s place at the 2024 Davis Cup World Group-I playoffs.
India and Moroccan Davis Cup team have reached Lucknow on September 9, 2023, and camp started on September 10, 2023. Preparation for this tie is in last stage as Centre court, two practice courts and around 2,000 Chairs have been arranged, whereas there will be no ticket for the spectator and AITA will issue passes for media person said Michael Manidas, Senior consultant GT PMU.
Now talking about the format of the Davis Cup, a Davis Cup tie consists of five games; four singles and one doubles. The team that secures victory in at least three of these matches will clinch the tie.
Indian Davis Cup team would not have ended up in the Davis Cup World Cup-II, if the double pair of Yuki Bhambri and Rohan Bopanna would have won their tie against Holger Rune and Johannes Ingildsen of Denmark this February, as India suffered 2-3 loss to Denmark.
India team would be confident while playing Morocco, as the team will be boosted with Bhambri and Bopanna’s form which will be crucial for the Davis cup tie and the upcoming Asian games. Meanwhile, Morocco will be playing in the World Group for the third time in 2001, 2002 and 2004 but lost in each of the occasion in first round. For India, Sumit Nagal and Mukund Sasikumar ranked 189 and 361 respectively, are expected to shoulder the responsibility of playing the singles matches. Top doubles star Rohan Bopanna will have the option of playing the doubles rubber with Yuki Bhambri or Ramkumar Ramanathan. Upcoming men’s single tennis star Digvijay Pratap Singh will be only addition to this Indian Davis Cup squad against Morocco.
Meanwhile, as informed by Indian Davis Cup captain Rahul Rajpal, Rohan Bopanna, who is recently crowned as Men’s Doubles runner-up in the US Open will be joining the Indian Davis Cup squad on Wednesday.
