Grueling tour taxing Somdev physically, out of Indian Wells ATP 1000

The no.1 Indian Tennis player lost in qualifying round of the ATP 1000 tournament at Indian Wells, USA. Somdev (ATP # 121)  was seeded 9th for the event, he won the first round against  Alex, Kuznetsov of USA in three sets 6-4,3-6,6-0. He lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 in 2nd round against 14th seed Stefan Koubek (ATP # 132) of Austria. After the match, Somdev tweeted "He never felt this awful before ... physically". It seems the toughness of the tour is affecting Somdev's game and physical fitness. Earlier in the Davis Cup, Somdev lost his reverse single against ATP # 13 ranked Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets. Somdev mentioned in his tweets,  he need lot of improvement. The coach of Indian Davis Cup team commented he needs to add more arsenal to compete against top player, only baseline game is not enough. Somdev needs multi pronged strategy to improve his game and physical fitness. Furthermore, if the tour is taxing him lot physically, he should reduce his number of tournament and concentrated on few. We, his fan base hope he overcome this hurdle and achieve greater heights in his career and also help lift Indian tennis. The road ahead is tough and challenging but not impossible. 

Meanwhile, Som is waiting for lucky loser spot at Indian Well ATP.

Good Luck Som

Davis Cup: Somdev losses against Igor Kunitsyn, India down 2-0

India is playing against Russia in Moscow for the Davis Cup World Group finals event. Indian team includes Somdev Devvarman (ATP # 128), Rohan Boppana (ATP # 416), Sanam Singh, and the perennial doubles pair of Leaner Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. The first tie was supposed be contested between Indian #1 ranked Somdev and Igor Andreev (ATP # 38), however knee injury on Thursday ruled out Igor Andreev for the tie. Somdev played against ATP # 107 Igor Kunitsyn for the first tie and had good chance of getting first point for India. Initially he started well and won the first set 7-6 and was leading in the 2^nd set with 5-2 margin before Kunitsyn bounced back and leveled it by winning 7-6. Igor didn’t look back after that and won two consecutive sets 6-3, 6-4 and sealed the first tie for Russia. Somdev had good chance of putting India into lead in the absence of Andreev; however, Somdev was not able to take advantage of his chances. Rohan Boppana lost against Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. The next tie is doubles and India is favorite for the doubles as Leander and Mahesh are one of the top doubles pair in the world. However, trailing with 2-0, India's chances are almost nil unless some miracle happens. To win against Russia, India needs to win all the 3 remaining matches, which is highly unlikely. Russia was hot favorite against India, however, Indians had good opportunity as both Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev pulled out because of the Injuries.