Despite all the things that caused the Indian Davis Cup team to make headlines for non-tennis reasons in 2008, they managed to fight their way to the World Group playoffs. The ugly scenes following the ties against Uzbekistan and Japan pushed a few fine performances into the background, but the players will need a whole lot more than grit to put it past Romania come September 19.

One of the main issues the rebels — Mahesh Bhupathi, Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna — had no longer exists, with Leander Paes relinquishing his captaincy, but it still doesn’t erase the problems the players have had with each other in the past, particularly given the history between Paes and Bhupathi.

Nevertheless, there is a job to be done, even if it’s the unenviable task of giving Romania a fight on clay in Bucharest. “The atmosphere is always peaceful. We don’t talk to each other, we talk to the media, and since there isn’t going to be any media in Romania, things should be fine,” laughed Bhupathi, referring to his former doubles partner, while taking a break from a training camp at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in the Capital.

“We’ll be expected to win the doubles, and Romania will be under pressure to win at home. Somdev is playing well, so is Prakash and even though clay isn’t his surface, in Davis Cup anything can happen,” added Bhupathi.

Somdev is already in Romania, and has given a good account of himself by qualifying for the ATP event in Bucharest, upsetting Italian Filippo Volandri before losing to Spain’s world No 18 Nicolas Almagro.

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