Describing his opening singles match in the Davis Cup World Group qualifiying tie against The Netherlands as "pretty close", Rohan Boppanna said the result of the marathon tussle could have gone in India's favour had he not been a victim of "a few bad calls".
"The tie was pretty close, a few bad [line] calls here and there did not help our cause," Bopanna told PTI from Zwolle.
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The 23-year-old from Coorg, who fought a four-and-a-half hour battle including a 12-10 fifth set while losing to Martin Verkerk in the opening singles, said "it was a great experience" playing against a world number 14 player.
"It was one of my memorable matches. Verkerk has a huge serve; it is not easy against someone who comes up with 43 aces in a match.
"But I had nothing to lose, so I just went and played my best," he said.
Bopanna himself served 21 aces against Verkerk, French Open finalist, in a match that involved 69 games, the tense fifth set alone lasting more than an hour.
"After 4-5 [in the decider], every time I walked out I was serving to stay in the match. I think I did well under such pressure," the Davis Cupper said.
Bopanna, who had won a Futures title two weeks before the Holland tie and was also the Indian number one in the ATP Rankings, said he had trained hard for the rigours of a Davis Cup programme.
"Playing three sets in Futures is nowhere near a hard-fought Davis Cup rubber," Bopanna said.
"I had already played an away tie, when I made my debut in Australia last year, so I was aware how physically tough it was going to be," he said.
Bopanna said a couple of line calls ruined India's chances. Most crucially, a chair umpire over-ruling in the fourth set tie-breaker went against him. Although captain Ramesh Krishnan had a brief argument with the chair, it was to no avail.
"You cannot do anything about such things. Once he has overruled, it stands," he said.
Playing in front of a 6000-strong home crowd, however, brought out the best in him, Bopanna said.
"The crowd was fantastic; they cheered me a lot. I think I was more motivated by them than feeling any pressure," he added.
Bopanna, and teammate Harsh Mankad, will be flying to Tashkent from Zwolle, for the Asian Tennis Championships. He finished runner-up last year at the event, which awards the singles winner in both men's and women's section a main draw wild card for the Australian Open the following year.
Seeded fourth this time, Bopanna will be hoping to sustain the Davis Cup momentum and go all the way to earn a maiden Grand Slam entry.
