'Sasikumar is our number one player at the moment'

Legendary Vijay Amritraj believes Indian tennis players can make it big in the sport if they are willing to "sacrifice" everything and show exceptional commitment, while emphasising that breaking into the top echelons of world rankings is not a task beyond them.

Ahead of the Davis Cup World Group I Play-off against lower-ranked yet gritty Togo here from Saturday, Amritraj said India should start favourites though it wouldn't be a cakewalk.

"Competition is tough (in international tennis). Nobody said nothing is easy. If it was easy, everyone would do it. The important aspect here is to make that strong commitment -- a commitment like sacrifice, like you can never even imagine -- because there are no guarantees in our sport," Amritraj, one of the greatest singles players India has produced, told PTI Videos on Friday.

Only one Indian, Sumit Nagal, was able to make it to the men's singles main round of the Australian Open earlier this month but lost in the opener of the first Grand Slam of the year.

Amritraj said Indian players should give it everything to achieve success.

"As long as you give it all you've got, at least you know in 10 years' time that you've given everything you have, the kitchen sink, and see if you can get past into the top 100, top 50, top 20, and so on.

"It is possible. We have the talent. We have all the facilities. There is enough sponsorship available at this point and television coverage, so you should be able to do it," added Amritraj, who was ranked as high as No.18 in 1980 and reached the Grand Slam quarterfinals four times.

He had also guided India to Davis Cup final twice over a 13-year period.

Amritraj felt India's Sasikumar Mukund, who will look for a winning return to the Davis Cup, has a great chance to give India the lead in the opening singles on Saturday.

"I think that I don't know enough about the players from Togo to actually make a really-educated prediction. But I do believe that Sasikumar is our number one player at the moment.

"So, I believe that he has a good chance that he's playing their number two player in the opening match. So, I mean, you would think that it should be one-love in our favour," opined Amritraj.

Togo had beaten some good teams along the way to reach this point and that should make India wary, Amritraj felt.

"Well, it's never a cakewalk because they (Togo) got here. They've beaten two good teams, I think Latvia and Indonesia as well along the way. So, I think they (India) know what it is to play against these guys.

"Plus, they've been playing internationally as well in Challenges and Futures events and so on. I think our boys also know that," said the US-based former player.

He said rather than think about what is stopping Indian players from making an impact in Grand Slams, the focus should be on doing well in the upcoming Davis Cup tie.

"The important aspect is we've got four singles here and one doubles match, and we need to stay focused on those four singles. How do we win three of those four matches constantly? To get that, we need to be able to get players consistently in the top-50 in the world to be able to compete with the rest of the world."