Dubai: The UAE's top tennis player feels it will have to be a supreme team effort if the national squad is to retain its place in Group 3 of the Asia-Oceania Zone of the Davis Cup to be played in Sri Lanka later this month.
"Playing on clay has never been our strength, so it is imperative that we all work and play to our strengths," Omar Behroozian told Gulf News from Nice where the UAE squad is undergoing a three-week training camp to prepare for their Davis Cup encounter in Colombo from June 15-18.
"Hamad [Abbas Al Janahi] needs to really reach prime fitness as he is the youngest member of the team, and Mahmoud [Nader Al Beloushi] has just four days of practice to get acquainted to clay when we actually go to Colombo," Behroozian said.
The Group 3 Davis Cup encounter featuring Kuwait, Lebanon, Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Oman, the UAE and the hosts will be played at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts in Colombo.
Fighting for promotion
The eight teams will be divided into two groups with the top four battling it out to decide which two earn a promotion to Group 2 for the next season. The two teams at the bottom of each group will be relegated to Asia/Oceania Zone Group 4 for 2012.
"Honestly, it is a tough ask for us as we are simply not used to playing on clay. Of course, this camp will help to an extent, but other than that we need a real solid team effort to do well," Behroozian said. "Luckily, we have been doing well during this camp in France and Hamad is nearly back to his best form. Everyone is aware of my weakness on clay as my level drops by 70 to 80 per cent."
"But we need to still give it our best shot and play to our strengths. So it is important that I try as hard as I can to maintain my game even on that surface while Hamad does his bit and Mahmoud takes on the extra burden of adjusting to clay within the limited time he will have once we land in Sri Lanka."
Intensive training
While Behroozian and Al Janahi have travelled with the UAE's Spanish coach Jorge Munoz for the training camp in Nice, Al Beloushi could not make the trip due to work commitments in Abu Dhabi. The fourth member of the squad is Mahmoud Khalifa as the playing captain.
Meanwhile, the UAE players have been busy spending an average of six to seven hours on tennis during the camp. "The morning session is for fitness while we spend nearly five hours on court in the afternoons," Behroozian said.