Slew of unforced errors, poor body language and other such giveaways suggest Yuki Bhambhri is not ready for big stage and team should look at options in lower ranked players such as Nedunchezhiyan, Ramanathan India lose 2-3 to Serbia after Bhambhri goes down to Krajinovic in decider
There was no dearth of inspiration. Twice in two days, Yuki Bhambri and 7,000 others were treated to a jaw-dropping display of resilience from Leander Paes-Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman. Twice in two days, the Delhi lad received a courtside lesson on the art of combating. Alas, none of that charisma rubbed off on him. Even the sun, which had shooed away Sunday's nimbus clouds, couldn't light the fire in his heart. And in the end, he produced no more than an insipid performance that undid all the good work done by his teammates.
The result: Bhambri gift-wrapped a straight-set victory to Filip Krajinovic and, with it, the Davis Cup World Group playoff tie to Serbia here on Monday afternoon. India have been relegated to the Asia/Oceania Zone for the fourth year running.
The deciding rubber, halted on Sunday with the scoreboard 6-3 4-4 in favour of Krajinovic, resumed at 12 noon on Monday. All it took the talented Serb, playing his maiden set of live Davis Cup matches, to close out the contest 6-3 6-4 6-4 was 50 minutes. In all, the players battled for two hours and nine minutes.
There's no harm in losing. After all, it's part and parcel of sport. However, it was disturbing to watch Bhambri give up the way he did. His serve was all over the place. His forehand was feeble. His body language was poor. He barely looked at his teammates, who were doing all they could to spur him on.
He wasted numerous break point opportunities. He committed way too many unforced errors. In short, he looked out of place. With smarter and hungrier players like Ramkumar Ramanathan and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan waiting in the wings, captain Anand Amritraj has some serious thinking to do. Does Bhambri deserve to be the No. 2 singles player of this team only because he is ranked higher than the others?
Bhambri and Krajinovic go a long way back. The 22-year-olds have been friends since the age of 14 and, to quote Bhambri, have "practically lived together at the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida". That apart, they are managed by the same company, IMG. The similarities end there.
Krajinovic, ranked No. 107 to Bhambri's 153, has taken his game several notches up from the last time these players met the junior US Open six years ago. Travelling with the Serbian team for nearly two years but warming the bench due to the presence of giants like Novak Djokovic, Krajinovic has improved by leaps and bounds. He is one for the future. Back home, they call him the next Djokovic. He laughs off that suggestion, though. And for the record, he had beaten Bhambri in New York too. In Bangalore, he packed off Devvarman in four sets on Friday before trouncing Bhambri in the fifth and final rubber.
Bhambri, who had lost Friday's opening singles rubber to Dusan Lajovic in straight sets, was gutted with his performance. He described Monday's loss as the "worst of his 10-year tennis career".
"I made a lot of unforced errors. There was nothing wrong with me. I was just not hitting well and my game was not there in both the singles matches. I haven't made so many errors in my 10-year tennis career as I did against Krajinovic. Obviously, I am very disappointed that I lost both the singles matches and I hope I get more chances in the future (to make amends)," he said.
Krajinovic sounded apologetic for beating Bhambri. "I am sad he lost. But that's tennis."
Result: Serbia 3 bt India 2 (F Krajinovic bt Y Bhambri 6-3 6-4 6-4)
DID YOU KNOW?
The loss means that India will now again fight it out in Asia/Oceania zone in the 2015 season. The last time India had made it to the World Group was in 2011
THEY MADE IT
Below is the list of countries that qualified for the elite World Group...
Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Switzerland, United States
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