India captain Vishal Uppal wants his players to take a fearless approach in the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs, which begin here on Friday.
The likes of Sahaja Yamalapalli, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, Ankita Raina and others will face tough competition from Slovenia and the Netherlands, but Uppal places immense faith in his crew.
“We want to take the court with the right energy and take the fight to our opponents. Our opponents are much higher ranked, but we like the underdog story. I want my team to be ambitious, be fearless,” Uppal told Sportstar on the sidelines of a training session at the S.M. Krishna Tennis Stadium here.
Uppal was the captain when India reached the playoff for the first time in 2020. To make it this far again in a short period shows that Indian women’s tennis is on the up and up, Uppal said.
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“It shows you that women’s tennis in India is heading the right way. Now we need to get more ambitious to go beyond the playoffs. It is very important to continue on the journey to growing the sport in India,” the former men’s national champion and Davis Cup player said.
Uppal is not averse to making bold changes in the line-up, as seen in the previous round (Asia/Oceania Zone Group I).
“I’m pretty sure no one in Indian tennis would have imagined that Ankita would not play a singles match in Pune. But I had come up with this strategy after I studied the opponents and match-ups. The good thing was that the whole team was on board with the plan,” Uppal said.
Published on Nov 12, 2025