It will be special week in my tennis journey: Jeevan on Davis Cup debut

Playing Davis Cup at the age of 30 is not a step forward for Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan but he still feels it will be a "special week" in his tennis journey when he faces Pakistan.

He firmly believes that winning against a weaker opponent would not take anything away from his debut.

The Chennai left-hander churned out results consistently in the last two-three years but was not considered for Davis Cup selection due to the presence of higher-ranked players.

An opportunity arose when the top players refused to travel to Pakistan and he raised his hands up. With the matches shifted out of Islamabad, they again said they were ready to play, spoiling Jeevan's chances.

However, a shoulder injury ruled Rohan Bopanna out and Jeevan is now set to make his debut alongside the legendary Leander Paes.

"We have very good doubles players in our country. We have two guys in top-50. I don't look at it as holding back. Tennis is a journey. I am 30-year-old, I enjoy playing on Tour, regardless of whether I get to play Davis Cup or not. But it is a special feeling to play for tri-colour. And it's not a step forward, it's part of the journey," Jeevan told PTI in an interview.

"I am excited to be part of the squad. It's any player's dream to represent the country, it's the highest honour for a player to represent the country."
"I have done well with my right hand partners in the past, I have done well on ad-court too. Bopanna and I won Chennai Open with me on the ad-court, so that's a familiar territory for me."
"Also it's not an easy decision for those guys to not to come, I can understand their position. They are both great guys but I am excited to be playing regardless of who is playing."
"He has a big serve and is a natural ad-court player while I play on deuce court."