Representational image.©AFP
Youngsters Karan Singh, Yuvan Nandal and Chirag Duhan were sweating it out on Thursday at LTAD in New Delhi, performing some good live drills to begin preparations in earnest for the upcoming Davis Cup match against Togo. Senior player Ramkumar Ramanathan joined the team midway through the session and will start training on Friday, while Sasi Mukund, N Sriram Balaji and Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli will arrive soon. Balaji and Bollipalli participated in the Australian Open. Coach Ashutosh Singh conducted the two-and-a-half-hour session in the evening after an equally intense morning session.
As the LTAD Center court was still being prepared, the evening session took place on the show court, which is faster than the match court.
“It was a very good first day. We did a solid job today. The live ball training was important. It gives the coach a good idea of where the players are in terms of movement,” he said. Ashutosh told PTI after the session.
Towards the end of the session, the coach asked Duhan to work on adding a little slice to his serve.
It will be interesting to see how Ramkumar prepares for the competition, as he has struggled lately, losing several first round matches on the ATP Challenger Tour.
He also made a first round knockout at the ITF event in Indore.
The slow pitch suited Sumit Nagal perfectly and it will be interesting to see how Ramkumar shapes up here.
Togo does not have a single player in the top 1000, but Ramkumar said the intensity cannot drop.
“You don’t know what lies ahead. You’ve never faced them, in unknown territory, so you can’t let your guard down,” Ramkumar said.
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