New Delhi: Star player Leander Paes on Tuesday vowed to show his rookie team-mates the way in order to help them make a worthy debut for India in the upcoming Davis Cup tie against South Korea, but acknowledged that the task ahead is "tough". Paes joined the Indian training camp on Tuesday and practiced for close to two hours with Purav Raja, his doubles partner for the tie starting Friday, and reserves Arjun Kadhe and Ashiwn Vijayraghavan at the R K Khanna Tennis stadium.
Three Indian players will make their Davis Cup debut while Paes has been representing the country in the tournament for the last 20 years. 11 top players, including Somdev Devvarman, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, had recently started a revolt against AITA, demanding better playing conditions, and in the process making themselves unavailable for the tie.
"We have been in this positions a few times, basically leading the team into a tie. Boys are going to have some nerves coming into the tie. I am looking to basically cushion some of that butterflies, the guys will have," the 39-year old multiple Grand Slam champion told reporters here. It all depends on how an individual handles the occasion. For me call of the day is to tell them how to handle it. I will show them. We have a tough task ahead," Paes added. Paes had some encouraging words to say for his team-mates.
"Yes there are rookies in our team. The exuberance, the fire is with them, you can see some nerves in them. You can see them looking up to the occasion, which is fresh and nice. This is my 24th year in Davis Cup and it's nice to come into a team that is pushing me hard, getting us to practice hard."
Like India, there are not much higher-ranked players in the Korean camp, but Paes rated the rivals highly.
"Koreans are always a tough bunch. They have a lot of physical fitness, fast as a sporting community. They are always tough opponents. It's a while that I have played Koreans but I expect nothing different this time," he said.
It was a sweet gesture on his part as Paes first involved captain S P Misra and then his partner Raja in the media interaction.
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