By IANS,
New Delhi : Leander Paes, who lost the inconsequential reverse singles to Japan’s Satoshi Iwabuchi in the Davis Cup tie Sunday, said little more practice would have done him a world of good.
Paes, who was playing in a singles after a long time, lost 4-6,6-4,4-6 to Iwabuchi in the second reverse singles.
“I enjoyed my outing today. If I had little more singles practice, I could have pulled off the match. I took my chances and that helped me to take the match into the third set,” Paes told reporters.
Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who lost to Kei Nishikori, were playing in reverse singles after India had qualified for the World Group play-off Saturday. India wrapped up the tie 3-2.
“Both the Japanese players came out hard and fought knowing that the tie is already finished for them.”
India fielded Bhupathi and Paes for the reverse singles to give Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj rest as both were battling injuries.
Asked about the possibility of not playing the reverse singles matches as India had already won the tie skipper Paes said: “Davis Cup is not just about players. We have to think about a whole lot of thing, including the respect of the visiting team, the sponsors, fans etc.”
Paes complimented his team-mates for their excellent performance in the tie.
Bhupathi, who played a singles match after seven years and was convincingly beaten by Nishikori, said he found the going tough in the second set. “First set was fun but my body gave up in second set.”
Bopanna was suffering from an inflamed knee, while Amritraj is battling a wrist injury.
“We had to take best decisions for us considering Rohan’s knee and my wrist injury. So we decided to rest,” said Amritraj.