Rafa fan Karan Singh out to prove India not just 'doubles expert' nation: 'We can have good number of singles players'
Speaking to HT, Karan Singh opened up on his Davis Cup preparations, his 2024 season and his experience at the recently-shut NTC
On the world stage, India has increasingly gained recognition as a "doubles expert" nation. That was the precise phrase used by Thomas Setodji, the only ranked Togo player, on his visit to India for the Davis Cup tie in Delhi. India has won 33 Grand Slams, all of which came in doubles, shared among four legends: Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza, and Rohan Bopanna.
"We know that you have a very strong team, and I'm on tour, so I see a lot of Indians play around, so I know all of them, and we know that it's going to be tough, especially in doubles, and we know that you are a double expert. So for sure, it's going to be tough for us. But we're ready for it and we'll see on Saturday," said Setodji during Togo's press conference at the DLTA complex on Thursday.
But such wasn't the tennis scene in India always. Long before the era of Paes and Mirza, two singles players, Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan, were the torchbearers of Indian tennis. The former made it to four Grand Slam quarters and picked up 15 singles titles during his career, while the other made the last eight thrice and won eight trophies. Not to mention, India's only medal at the Olympics came in singles, with Peas finishing third at the Atlanta Games in 1996.
Over the years, the likes of Somdev Devvarman and now his friend Sumit Nagal have emerged as singles specialists. However, amid the changing dynamics of the Davis Cup format, the dearth of enough talent has hurt India. But young Karan Singh, who has been picked for his maiden Davis Cup appearance in the tie against Togo at home, is eager to prove that India can have better singles players.
The 21-year-old from Haryana had his first notable win in 2024 when he lifted the ATP Challenger doubles title at Brazzaville Challenger alongside Frenchman Florent Bax. But speaking to Hindustan Times, the Rafael Nadal fan clarified that singles has been always his focus.
"Of course not doubles. I'm a singles player, but I do play doubles sometimes. I'm mostly focusing on singles and that is what I want to be," he said.
He stressed that the influx of Indian players moving to doubles and gaining success inspired him to stick to this format of the sport. "That's what made me stick to singles that we want to show everyone that we can have a good number of singles players as well. And that's what we're going to happen in coming time as well," he added.
Karan also spoke about his experience at the National Tennis Centre, which was launched four years ago to end India's long-standing barren terrain of singles tennis. Its operations were shockingly closed in December last year, but Karan hopes that AITA comes up with separate programme.
"It was good being at NTC. I was there for, I think, almost two years, and it was a good program there. But I mean, unfortunately, it's not there anymore. So it's sad for the nation that we no longer have anything like that. But hopefully, in the coming time, we'll have something like that again, and I'll be really excited about that," he said.
Talking about his preparations for the Davis Cup, which will be played on February 1 and 2, Karan said: "Preparations have been going really well. We have been training for the past couple of days here, and I think we all are looking sharp, and we are really excited for the time. I think it's privileged to play for the country, and I'm really confident, and I'm looking forward to it."
