Davis Cup: Yuki Bhambri to clash with Lukas Rosol in opening rubber

Yuki Bhambri who is the top singles player of the country will open Indias Davis Cupcampaign when he takes on world number 85 Lukas Rosol in the opening singles rubber of the World Group playoff tie against Czech republic here tomorrowUnion Finance Minister Arun Jaitely picked up the slip bearing Yukis name at the draw ceremony which was also attended by Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal apart from AITA and ITF officialsCzech Republics Lukas Rosol L shakes hands with Indias Yuki Bhambri after the draw of the Davis Cup tennis playoffs in New Delhi on Thursday PicAFPThe second singles will be played between Indias number two player Somdev Devvarman ranked 164 and Czech number one Jiri Vesley who is ranked 40 in the worldOn Saturday the Indian team of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna will fight it out with Radek Stepanek and Adam PavlasekThe reverse singles will be played on Sunday Yuki who had stated that he would prefer playing in cooler conditions said I want to make a good start and put the Czechs under pressure I can play freely at 00Indian captain Anand Amirtraj said the draw has come out the way we wanted Its slightly easier to play first match and Som had to see and wait how it goes and plan accordingly Anand saidPaes who is the most experienced player in the team said Indians must capitalise on hot conditions but the players have their own individual style of doing itIf we can be 10 up or oneall it makes the doubles very very important This tie is going to be very very difficult considering that we are playing against twotimes champions Both Yuki and Somdev have their work cut out Yuki has been playing well in the last few weeks Its going to be hot and we have have to capitalise on thisEvery player has his own individual style of preparing for matches It is not necessary that what works for me will work for Somdev We have developed our own styles how to handle the heat and stay away from cramping Davis Cup is five set matches Thats not an easy task The boys have to keep hydrating Paes who is the fourth most successful player in the Davis Cup history with 89 wins saidPaes also said it will be interesting for me to see what is the strategy whether to play long rallies or finish the points earlyVesley is yet to win a live singles rubber but Somdev said that does not make the Czech a lesser playerHe is top50 I dont see him an inexperienced player by any means Its going be tricky He is pretty solidJaitely described Paes as a old wine that gets better with time referring to his 17th Grand Slam title win at the recently concluded US OpenAITA President Anil Khanna asked Sonowal to consider Somdev Yuki and Saketh Myneni in the TOPS scheme When quizzed about the same Sonowal later said that the government needs to look at some things before taking such a decisionMeanwhile there were several light moments during the draw ceremony keeping the people in attendance in splits When Radek Stepanek was asked if he was troubled by heat as he missed the second practice session yesterday he asked the scribe back Are you an Indian spyLater he went on to explain I did not miss anything My practice went as I had planned it I am following my schedule I just went easy yesterday getting ready for the days ahead When Paes answered one question in Hindi coach Zeeshan Ali who was sitting in the audience asked the veteran player Aapne itni acchi hindi bolna kab seekha when did you learn to speak hindi so fluently The gathering burst into laughter and Paes replied From February 1990 when we played together I miss you on my side We can again order a biryani between 4th and 5th setPaes also asked the team to make a plan to rag Saketh who has already played three ties for the countryIf we win the doubles this time Saketh will dance Lets prepare a nice initiation for him he said to the fellow playersRosol who beat Rafael Nadal in 2012 Wimbledon said he was comfortable playing the first match of the tieIts always nice to bring the first point I am comfortable to start first I am looking forward to playing Yuki Rosol saidVesley said he expects a tough match against Somdev But I feel I have the game good enough to take the point