Former India ace Vijay Amritraj today disagreed with country's top singles player Somdev Devvarman's take that India's Davis Cup chances against the mighty Serbia will hinge on doubles pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna.
"Let me put it this way. You cannot win a Davis Cup tie solely depending on doubles. You would rather lose 1-4! But you can win a Davis Cup match with good singles performance. There are four singles matches. The bottomline is you have to win three out of five rubbers. It doesn't matter how you do it," a forthright Vijay told PTI in an exclusive interview ahead of the marquee clash tomorrow.
"I think the key element will be winning one of the first two singles on the first day. We have to win one of those ... which I think we can," younger of the two Amritraj brothers, said ahead of the launching of his Reserve Wine Collection with Grover Zampa Vineyards here today.
On Yuki Bhambri playing the first singles, Amritraj said he would have ideally wanted Somdev play the first match and beating the Serbia's No 2 player.
"I would have loved to see Som playing the first match and we go up 1-0. That would have been be the ideal script I would have liked to write."
Yuki will open India's Davis Cup campaign against Serbia, drawn against visiting side's No 2 player Dusan Lajovic for the first singles match.
Asked whether he agrees to Devvarman's comments that India's chances hinged on gaining a point in the doubles, Vijay said it cannot win any team the tie because there are four singles matches compared to only one doubles.
Amritraj said Djokovic's participation would have been a big question mark for India in the two singles he would have played, but with his absence it is 50-50 chance for the hosts in the tie.
"Djokovic's absence definitely increases our chances of winning. With him playing - where two singles would have been a question mark for us. They (Indians) are now in a position of 50 per cent chance of winning," he said.
Amritraj said he believed that the two Indian youngsters can beat their opponents because they are playing top 100 ranked players, not top 20s.
"Right now, Somdev's ranking has dropped a bit but he is a top-100 player in essence. Those guys are also top 100. But also, they are not top 10 or top 20. We are talking about Somdev and Bhambri, can have good victory against - I think we have a very good chance," he said.
