Davis Cup coach Ashutosh Singh has high expectations from 16 year old Manas Dhamane.

New Delhi : Ashutosh Singh, who became the new Davis Cup coach in place of Zeeshan Ali, is hopeful that Manas Dhamne can prove to be an important player for Indian tennis in the future due to his hard work and great spirit. Ashutosh saw the young player from Malegaon in Stockholm where India took part in a Davis Cup group match against Sweden. Although 16-year-old Dhamane did not get a chance to play any match, he was part of the team that went to Stockholm along with another young player Aryan Shah.

India suffered a 0-4 defeat at the hands of the hosts, but coach Ashutosh saw a positive aspect in this disappointing performance in Sweden. Ashutosh, son of former Davis Cup player Balram Singh, said, ‘Manas is a hard-working player. On the court he just makes eye contact and says ‘OK’. He has the potential to become India’s ‘Mr Dependable’ in singles which Indian tennis has been looking for for a long time.

Ashutosh said, ‘There is definitely a long way to go. But with the path he is on and his hardworking approach, it seems possible. He said, ‘It also has to be kept in mind that Manas is only 16 years old and he needs to be cautiously monitored in certain aspects of his workload management. But he is taking proper training in his ‘training base’ in Italy. India has only one player in the top-100, Sumit Nagal (83). After him is Ramkumar Ramanathan who is at number 309. Then there is Shashi Kumar Mukund (365). But all others are out of the top-500 ranking.