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Can India do the Unthinkable and Beat the Spanish Masters ?

Siddharth Nair
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India will face Spain in the Davis Cup in what will be one of the most keenly watched tennis ties in Indian tennis history. The Spanish team boasts of Lopez, Lopez, Ferrer and of course the great Rafael Nadal. The Indian team consists of Myneni, Paes, and Ramanathan. So does India have any chance at all ? Can India do the Unthinkable and Beat the Spanish Masters ?

Spain’s Rafael Nadal plays a return shot to Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov during their men's singles tennis match at Queen's tennis championship in London, Tuesday June 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

India are obviously massive underdogs in this tie and rightly so. They could use this to their advantage since they have nothing to lose. Any hope that India had in winning their World Cup group went up in smoke when they were pitted against Spain.

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The Spanish put out their full strength team while India is without Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri, and Rohan Bopanna. The individual matches are :

“I hope I don’t get nervous,” Ramanathan said of the prospect of playing Nadal. (Can India do the Unthinkable and Beat the Spanish Masters ? )

Ramanathan’s ranking is 203 while Nadal is currently 5th. Rarely will Ramanathan get such an opportunity to play against one of the all time great tennis players in Nadal. Also the chance to learn as much as play against will be one of the things that will get Ramanathan the most excited.

paes

With the Bopanna out Leander Paes will be paired with Myneni as they look to get some points against the Lopez pairing for Spain. In all likelihood this will be India’s best chance at gaining some points in this tie. (Can India do the Unthinkable and Beat the Spanish Masters ? )

The Spanish brigade are taking this tie very seriously and all the build up to this has been extremely professional. “We are here to get back into World Group,” said Nadal at the draw. “For a country like Spain, with so many players in the top 100 (11), we should be winning the Davis Cup.”

The Spanish coach said, “You can see by the names on this team how high it (this tie) is on the priority list. We want to go into the World Group and win another title”

It all starts against India !

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