Davis Cup: 'Koreans won't find it easy'

CHANDIGARH: Ramkumar Ramanathan hit the headlines first in 2014 when he defeated a much-fancied Somdev Devvarman in the opening round of the Chennai Open. The 21-year-old has made rapid progress since then and is set to turn out for his first Davis Cup match against South Korea, come Friday.
For a debutant, Ramanathan comes across as a confident guy and hardly showed any pre-match jitters. In fact, he sounded a warning shot for the visiting South Korean team.
"The grasscourts are playing fast so the Koreans, who play mostly on synthetic courts, won't find it easy.They will play neutral tennis and rely heavily on long rallies," Ramanathan said.
"Our strength is playing on grass. Our history also shows that we have performed exceedingly well on grass. Anand sir (Anand Amritraj), Zeeshan sir (Zeeshan Ali) have been giving me and Saketh (Myneni) inputs and our practice has been pretty good. I have been training hard alongside (Rohan) Bopanna and Saketh for the last two days and I need to keep believing in my abilities. My serve will be the key and am focusing on that," he added.
Ramanathan has been in good form and reached the quarterfinals of the Chennai Open, earlier this year.The lad from Chennai is currently ranked 217 in the world and his inspiration is none other than Leander Paes.
"He (Paes) has been my inspiration and an icon for many. It would be amazing to pick his brains during this tie (against South Korea) and I look forward to do that," Ramanathan said.
For him, representing the country in Davis Cup has been a 'dream come true'. "It is a dream come true to be representing your country and playing alongside Paes and Bopanna. I have been playing with Bopanna at Wimbledon so have a good rapport with him," the 21-year-old reflected.
Ramanathan just can't wait to get onto the court and give India a rousing start. "The plan is to play to our strength and not to think about anything else. It would be wonderful to start the tie with a win and grab home advantage," he said.