Amritraj is eyeing his first Cup win

Osaka: As Japan aim to conquer India in Davis Cup after a 73-year failure, one factor will be weighing heavily in the minds of their players — the Leander Paes factor.

Japan won their first two clashes with India (in 1921 and 1930) but have come out second-best in the next 19 ties. In the last two encounters, they have been denied success singlehandedly by Paes.

The 30-year-old Indian ace, who now doubles up as captain, won all his three matches both in Tokyo (2002) and New Delhi (2003). Neither Takao Suzuki nor Gouichi Motomura — who have been nominated for singles in the Asia-Oceania zone group I second-round tie beginning Friday — managed to beat Paes in the last two ties.

No wonder captain Jun Kamiwazumi identified Paes as the biggest stumbling block in their quest to overturn history.

The rigours of 13 years on the circuit and last year’s potentially life-threatening brain lesion may have slowed down Paes, but he still is a great competitor when it comes to donning national colours.

He has stopped playing singles on the Tour for well over a year, and yet Paes succeeds in winning singles matches in Davis Cup whereas his younger teammates falter time and again.

On the eve of every tie, Paes hopes India’s second singles player will win at least one of his matches to make his task that bit comfortable. It will be no different this time as the captain pins hopes on Prakash Amritraj who is looking to notch up his maiden Davis Cup win.

As the elder son of one of India’s most successful tennis players, Amritraj has a heavy load to carry. The 20-year-old has shown glimpses of undoubted talent during his brief career but is yet to produce the kind of consistency that will help his cause as well as the team’s.

Amritraj, who missed the February tie versus New Zealand with a thigh injury, hasn’t shown good form since returning to competitive tennis. He was no match for American Brian Vahaly in the first qualifying round of the Miami Masters and, last week, lost in the first round of the Busan Challenger to Uzbek qualifier Dmitri Mazur.

The Indian No. 1, ranked 266 in the world, is almost on par with his rival for Friday’s opening match — Gouichi Motomura (No. 275). The 30-year-old Japanese, though, has loads of experience and will be a tough nut to crack. (Agencies)