When Mahesh Bhupathi first announced a team loaded with four singles players for the tie against Uzbekistan, it was very clear that the newly-appointed Indian team Davis Cup captain was looking at the future rather than short-term gains.

Despite having two debutantes in his ranks, the 42-year-old sounded confident about the Asia Oceania Group I second round tie and said the ultimate goal would be to re-enter World Group.

“It’s just 2-3 days into what we are trying to set out. I think the main goal is trying to get everyone to believe that we can win and get back into the World Group.

“We have a young group of kids who finally have the ability to play on multiple surfaces. All three boys (Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and N Sriram Balaji) have the ability to serve at 130 mph which I think in today’s power tennis is a big advantage. I think just creating team atmosphere and constantly working on a squad of six so we can pick players depending on the surface and opposition. Also instill belief that we can find a way back into World Group. That’s the ultimate goal,”
said Bhupathi.

The 12-time doubles (both men’s and mixed) Grand Slam champion also heaped praise on the current lot. “I think we have a good bunch of boys who can play on hard and on clay. I’m pretty sure grass is out of the window, thankfully. This I think gives us an advantage when we go play away. Earlier on, whenever we went away, the automatic thing was to put India on clay because that was our weak surface. But the game has evolved in the last 20 years.”

Ultimate goal is to return to World Group, says Bhupathi