Captain of the Indian Davis Cup team Anand Amritraj has been backed by his teammates to continue in his role, according to a PTI report on Sunday. This comes a day after reports suggesting that the All India Tennis Association wanted to relieve him of his duties.
Yuki Bhambri, Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Somdev Devvarman are the players who have voiced their opinion about Amritraj continuing as the Indian skipper. Amritraj’s appointment in 2013 was also on the insistence of players, who believed that he had the right temperament to lead the country in Davis Cup ties.
The players’ written application to the AITA was sent as far back as October and it mentions, “We are writing this letter to express our total support for Anand Amritraj as Captain and Zeeshan Ali as Coach of the Indian Davis Cup Team. It has come to our attention through media that there are rumours of a possible change, and we are all strongly opposed to any such change. We would like to request the AITA to retain Anand as Captain and Zeeshan as Coach of the Indian Team for the foreseeable future. They have done a great job of bringing peace and harmony to the team, especially in difficult away matches.”
The players also pointed out, “We have done quite well to reach the World Group Playoffs all three years that Anand and Zeeshan have been there, not to mention good showings against Serbia and the Czech Republic in 2014 and 2015. We would like the AITA to respect our wishes in this matter and leave the team unchanged.”
India will be next playing the first round of the Asia/Oceania Group I against New Zealand at home, from 3 to 5 February. The 19th-ranked India is seeded second in the Group.