Davis Cup: India fail to get combination right against Canada

Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil of Canada defeated Rohan Bopanna and Purav Raja of India in four sets to make it 2-1 in Edmonton. (Source: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports)

Purav Raja had just served out a tight third set but India were still trailing. The celebrations, however, could have fooled you into thinking that Raja and Rohan Bopanna had won the doubles rubber against Canada. The two were greeted by fist pumps and excited yells from national observer of tennis Somdev Devvarman, captain Mahesh Bhupathi, coach Zeeshan Ali and the rest of the Davis Cup team. It was relief that Raja had finally held serve when it counted and hope that he would do so for the remainder of the match.

Raja was broken the next time he served, and Vasek Pospisil and Daniel Nestor ran with the advantage to wrap up a 7-5, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 win to put the hosts 2-1 ahead in the World Group Playoff tie.

There’s no putting it kindly. Raja’s service was a liability against the experienced Canadian duo. Three strong returns in the 12th game of the opening set left Raja facing 0-40, and he responded with a double fault to concede the set. Two more double faults handed Canada a break in the fourth game of the second set. Raja returned to serve at 5-6 and lost the set point with an unforced error.

In all, Raja dropped his serve five times. “He was obviously a little bit tight today on his serve and the speed was down quite a bit,” was Nestor’s assessment at the post-match press conference.

Bopanna, too, was put under the pump by the Canadians. Save for a moment of brilliance — a no-look, over-the-shoulder cross-court winner which brought the Northlands Coliseum to its feet — the world No. 19 was nowhere near the top of his game. The 37-year-old also failed to inject a sense of urgency into proceedings or lift his partner. There were flashes of the booming serve — 10 aces to match the Canada duo — to go with five double faults. He was broken once, early in the second set, when partner Raja put away a volley but was adjudged to have made contact on the other side of the net. “Are we playing tennis or are we playing another sport?” an incensed Bhupathi argued with chair umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore and received a warning for his troubles. Asderaki-Moore — the only woman to call a US Open men’s singles final — later docked Nestor a serve for his second time violation.

Nestor, who had lost three of his last four Davis Cup doubles matches, struggled in patches over the two hours and 52 minutes but was supported by the steady Pospisil. The 45-year-old lost his serve three times but dispatched loose balls at the net like an eight-time Grand Slam winner would and his well-placed returns kept the pressure on Raja.

“I think there were two x-factors in this match —one was Danny (Nestor) and one was Purav (Raja),” Bhupathi said later. “We knew the longer the match went that Danny was tiring a bit but he’s played 50 Davis Cup matches and that’s why at 5-all, 30-all in the second set he served an ace. And when he served at 4-3 in the fourth set he was able to pull off those two points at 30-all. That’s because he’s that good.”

If only Bhupathi knew a guy with an experience of 50+ Davis Cup ties over 25 years.

Bopanna and Raja — India’s fifth doubles team in as many rubbers — played like the scratch pair that it was. It would be unfair to put all the blame on Raja, who was playing his second Davis Cup rubber four years after the doubles win over South Korea partnering Leander Paes. The 31-year-old, ranked 56 in the world, showed steady hands at the net and returned well. But being thrust into the team for a crucial away tie at the last minute can leave anybody ruffled.

As shown by world No. 111 Pospisil and Nestor, No. 43 who started the year at 15, ranking is of academic interest in Davis Cup. And if it was a benchmark, how injured Saketh Myneni (unranked in doubles) and Sriram Balaji (no 134) were in the squad ahead of world No. 62 Paes remains a mystery.

There’s no way of knowing whether having Paes would have fetched the crucial point in doubles. That India didn’t field the best doubles pair possible against a player with a bad back and his tiring veteran partner is for sure.

“I don’t feel that I’ve helped the team the last couple of years as much as maybe before that,” Nestor said after the match. “I want to help out more.”

“He is an absolute legend,” Pospisil said of his partner. “So many Davis Cup ties. He has an impact on every player. He still is our best player ever and we hope he’s around for more ties.”

India would do well to learn a thing or two.