A place among the top Davis Cup nations after eleven years, an incredible come-from-behind victory in the match that clinched the tie, and finally, a vision of India’s tennis future that offered a fair bit of hope — surely the moment merited a few hours of festivity by those who made it happen.

As it turned out, however, a glass of champagne was all the celebration the Indian team could squeeze in before rushing to catch their flight home from Johannesburg. Arriving in the Capital bleary-eyed and tired, Somdev Devvarman would have had to use his last reserves of adrenalin to deal with the endless demand for interviews that came his way; and just as he had done against Rik de Voest on Sunday, the 24-year-old dealt with the situation at hand with composure, even when the enquiries were not about tennis.

“I’ve been hearing a lot about my hair,” he laughed, referring to his wavy mop that has been kept far away from a haircut, perhaps as a superstition since his good run began with the hardcourt season. It would take a lot more than plain and simple luck, though, to explain the phenomenal shape that the Indian has worked himself into, testimony to which was his nearly five-hour victory in India’s World Group play-off on Sunday.

Credit to the team

But the player who did half the job for India constantly shifted talk away from himself to his team mates every time the eulogies began. “Playing Davis Cup is a great change from playing on the Tour. Tennis is an individual sport, and when you have team mates to share moments with you, it’s much better.

... contd.