Artem Sitak makes tough calls for Davis Cup tie

Artem Sitak has named his two highest-ranked singles players for the opening two rubbers for this weekend’s Davis Cup tie against Luxembourg in Palmerston North.

The draw was held at Te Rangimarie Marae on Friday and Sitak, who is captaining the team for the first time, announced he’s gone with KP Pannu and Ajeet Rai for Saturday’s two matches at Fly Palmy Arena in the World Group II tie.

Pannu will play against Alex Knaff in the opening match and this will be followed by Rai against the Luxembourg No 1 Chris Rodesch.

For the doubles on Sunday, which starts the day, Sitak has selected Finn Reynolds and Rubin Statham and they are up against Rodesch and Knaff.

However, both captains can make changes to their teams for Sunday before play begins on that day.

Sitak said with having a strong team for this tie and everyone preparing well, it wasn’t easy to settle on his selections.

“They're all playing great, so it was a very tough decision,” Sitak said. 

“I like the fact that we do have this tough decision now in the team, that everybody's playing really well.

“So I just went purely on the game style that I hope will make a difference in those matchups on the first day, because we knew the opposition had their best two players one and two. 

“We knew what to expect, we did a lot of research and saw how we can win those first two singles. 

So those are my picks. Hopefully they were the right ones and I know the guys they're gonna leave all out there.”

Sitak first played for New Zealand in the Davis Cup in 2011 and made his final appearance last year. It’s a competition he’s passionate about and he’s looked to pass that on to the team.

“It’s the same thing we say before every Davis Cup tie and it's the same thing I said to the players this week, that we've seen huge upsets in Davis Cup throughout the years,” he said. 

“Like when you see Croatia making the final of the whole Davis Cup, because they were so united, so together. 

“We want to create that togetherness and unity in a team that we feel like we can beat anybody, no matter what the ranking is, no matter what, we're together and we can win. “And I truly believe that the team can do that, and they're on the way to do that.”

This Davis Cup team has players of various ages, from Jack Loutit, aged 20, to the 37-year-old Statham and 37-year-old Rubin Statham.

But Sitak says they’ve come together well and are ready for what should be a great tie.

“We've had a great week here, everybody worked together.” 

“So I'm very certain that it's gonna translate in tomorrow's matches and Sunday's matches.

“I have a feeling that this is gonna be very close, just based on how they are playing and based on how we're playing. 

“So it might come down to that little extra that we can bring to the table, and with the crowd home court support, I think that could tip us over the edge. Hopefully, that's what's going to happen.”

SATURDAY

KP Pannu v Alex Knaff

Ajeet Rai v Chris Rodesch

SUNDAY (subject to change)

Rubin Statham/ Finn Reynolds v Chris Rodesch/ Alex Knaff

KP Pannu v Chris Rodesch

Ajeet Rai v Alex Knaff

You can watch NZ take on Luxembourg live and free on Stuff this weekend.