Mumbai: Rohan Bopanna has withdrawn from India’s Davis Cup squad ahead of the next week’s tie against Spain citing a knee injury.
Bopanna was expected to pair up with Leander Paes for the Davis Cup World Group Play-off. The tie is scheduled to be played from September 16-18 in New Delhi.
Bopanna confirmed his withdrawal from the Davis Cup tie on Instagram.
The Indian combination of Paes and Bopanna recently played in the men’s doubles at Rio Olympics 2016, crashing out in the first round to the Polish pair of Marcin Matkowski and Lukasz Kubot.
Bopanna, who had a direct entry to the Olympics, had expressed desire to pair up with Saketh Myneni for Rio. However, AITA intervened to send Paes to partner Bopanna.
India are already without their top players such as Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman, who are recuperating from their respective injuries.
India's Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali said Bopanna's injury was "unfortunate".
"That is part and parcel of professional. Unfortunate it has happened one week before the tie," he told PTI from Bangalore.
Asked if Saketh will now play doubles with Leander Paes, Zeeshan said the combination has to be worked out.
"We don't know as of now. We will have to wait and see. We can't make Saketh sit down. How can we make him sit. He is our best singles player and he recently played in the US Open main draw as well after qualifying. We have to see," he said.
On the contrary, Spain are coming full strength, led by 14-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal. They did not need even their best players to beat India but are still attaching so much importance to the competition.
