RI Davis Cup team to warm up in India

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's Davis Cup team will warm up in three future tournaments in India prior to the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone Group II first round match against the Philippines in February in Manila.

Coach Dedy Prasetyo said on Thursday the six members of the team -- Dede Suhendar Dinata, Edy Kusdaryanto, Febi Widhiyanto, Hendri Susilo Pramono, Sebastian Da Costa and Suwandi -- will compete in the clay-court Future 1 tournament in Hyderabad from Jan. 10 to Jan. 16; the Future 2 in Bangalore from Jan. 17 to Jan. 23; and in the hard-court Future 3 in Chennai from Jan. 24 to Jan. 29.

"We shall observe the players' tactical understanding, emotional control and mistake management at the tournaments. The first point is to see if the players are able to overcome different type of players, be they serve-and-volleyers, baseliner or counterattacker types," he said.

"The second point is to see if the players can control their emotions, especially when they are under pressure at critical points. They must be able to decide when to play aggressively, when to defend and when to counterattack. This can only be gained in tournaments and not in practice sessions."

"The last point to observe is if they make unforced errors, especially at critical moments of a match. Usually our players tend to overhit in the deciding points which results in errors. They must also develop their mental endurance as they will play five sets in the Davis Cup matches in Manila."

Unfortunately, Dedy couldn't name which foreign players were to compete in the three futures.

"We haven't received any information from the organizers due to communication troubles," he said.

A source at the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) said treasurer Qoyum A. Tjandranegara had yet to provide the money to pay for two-months of telephone bills which is disturbing the association's administration.

Pelti will announce the core team of four players, one substitute and the coaches on Jan. 4, one day before they fly to India.

The team will fly directly to Manila to adapt to the conditions before competing from Feb. 4 to Feb. 6.

Dedy said he would get information from the Philippines Tennis Association (Philta) on the competitors on Jan. 4, but he mentioned Joseph Lizardo and Bryan Juinio as tough rivals for the national singles. (yan)