New Zealand and India will clash in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania zone semifinal in Wellington in just over a weeks time.
The winner will earn a place in the promotion relegation round of Davis Cup against first round losers from the world
group - nations such as Australia, Brazil, Germany, Great Britain, Morocco, Netherlands, Slovak Republic and
Switzerland.
The following are a number of bulletin points which give brief information about the Davis tie, the players involved and
the history between the sides. Any persons wanting accreditation please contact New Zealand Tennis on the numbers below.
NEW ZEALANDERS GOOD RUN Mark Nielsen has been in the best form of all the Kiwi players this year. Nielsen reached the
second round of the Heineken Open in Auckland, beating sixth seed Andreas Vinciguerra in the first round before being
beaten by Michel Kratochvil.
In doubles Nielsen and fellow Davis Cup teammate, James Shortall defeated Simon Aspelin and Andrew Kratzmann in the
first round before going down to
Martin Garcia and Cyril Suk in the quarterfinals.
In Davis Cup he scored a win and a loss in singles and a doubles win against when the New Zealand side defeated
Indonesia in Invercargill in February.
Nielsen also strung together four weeks of good play recently making two finals of the New Zealand Futures events.
Nielsen reached the final of Blenheim followed by the quarterfinals of Christchurch the next week and the final of North
Harbour.
The 24 year old then made the quarterfinals of the US$25,000 challenger in Hamilton, his fourth quarterfinal or better
result in as many weeks.
RANKINGS The New Zealand team to play India - singles doubles (current rankings) age Daniel Willman (North Harbour)
352 673 27years Mark Nielsen (North Harbour) 396 274 24 James Shortall (Wellington) 732 379
22 Alistair Hunt (Canterbury) 1311 902 29 Team Captain - Glenn Wilson N.B* Mark Nielsen's ranking in both
singles and doubles will improve after recent results when the new ATP rankings are released early next week.
The Indian's team singles doubles age Leander Paes
441 9 28 Mahesh Bhupathi 781
5 29 Harsh Mankad 750 747 22 Rohan Bopanna
576 435 23
Team Captain - Ramesh Krishnan N.B* Krishnan won the first ATP Tour event held in Wellington in 1988. He also won the
Benson & Hedges Open in Auckland the next year.
INDIAN DOUBLES The Indian doubles combination of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi may have split on the ATP Tour after
mixed results this year but will still be a tough combination in Davis Cup. They have two Grand Slam doubles titles to
their credit - 1999 Roland Garros and Wimbledon 1999. Bhupahti has a total of 22 career doubles titles and Paes 23
career doubles titles.
Both players have been ranked as the number one doubles player in the world.
Bhupathi Won Chennai with Paes Semis Auckland with Tarango Won Davis Cup doubles V Lebanon with Paes Quarterfinals
Memphis with Paes First Round San Jose with Paes First Round Delray Beach with Paes Second Round Indian Wells with
Gambill 9-6 win/loss record prior to entering this weeks Miami Masters Series tournament where he is partnering Brian
McPhie
Paes Has played one other event without Bhupathi First Round Indian Wells with de Jager 6-5 win/loss record prior to
entering this weeks Miami Masters Series tournament where he is partnering Justin Gimelstob
DATES & TIMES The Davis Cup tie will be held Friday 5th April - Sunday 7th April. The draw will be made at 12pm on Thursday 4th
April at the Wellington City Council Chambers, Wakefield St, Wellington. Play commences at on Friday at 10am, Saturday
for the doubles at 1pm and Sunday for the reverse singles at 10am. TICKETS Tickets are available from Wellington Tennis
at the Renouf Tennis Centre by calling 04 385 9709. Ticket prices are: Tickets Stand Season (3days)
Daily Adults North $70 $25 Adults West $50
$20 Children West $10 (inc GST) Corporate North $1500 8 seats
Boxes (3days) North $1300 8 seats (plus GST) East $1300 8 seats
Corporate boxes available from $1,300-$1,500 for three days. THE VENUE Renouf seating capacity is 1800 and courts are
Plexipave the courts were resurfaced in December 2001. The Wellington Renouf Tennis Centre was opened in 1987, 14
outdoor courts and four indoor courts. Central Park as it was known has been the home of Wellington Tennis Inc since
1946, initially grass courts prior to the redevelopment. Wellington Tennis Inc has been established for 122 years
PREVIOUS RESULTS The last time New Zealand played India was in 1978 when the side of Brian Fairlie, Onny Parun, Chris
Lewis and Russell Simpson won 4-1. NZ has won on all three occasions the sides have played.
1975 NZ bt India 3-1 at Lucknow Parun bt V Amritraj Fairlie bt A Amritraj Parun/Fairlie lt Amritraj/Armritraj Parun bt A
Amritrajj Fairlie V V Armritraj unfinished
1976 NZ bt India 3-2 at Auckland Fairlie bt A Amritraj Parun lt V Amritraj Fairlie/Parun bt Amritraj/Amritraj Fairlie lt
V Amritraj Parun bt A Amritraj
1978 NZ bt India 4-1 at New Dehli Lewis bt S Menon Parun bt A Amritraj Lewis/Fairlie bt A Amritraj/Menon Parun lt Menon
R Simpson bt R Krishnan
For further information please contact Dave Worsley - New Zealand Tennis Media Liaison for New Zealand V India Davis Cup
Tie.
Ends