Yuki Bhambri opted out of the upcoming Davis Cup match against Korea Republic after failing to recover from an elbow injury.
His withdrawal will hand Ramkumar Ramanathan his debut in men’s tennis’ premier international team event.
The winner of the Asia/Oceania Group I second round tie will advance to the World Group Play-offs.
Yuki had a very productive season in 2015, breaking into the top-100, but the elbow injury forced him to miss a few tournaments at the end of the season.
This year he has played only seven tournaments, winning only four matches.
Reaching the semi-finals of the Zuhai Challenger is his best performance this season.
Saketh Myneni will now be India's top-ranked singles players in the tie, to be held from July 15-17 at the Chandigarh Club.
Somdev Devvaraman, whose ranking has plummeted to 331, is already out of the mix as he is nursing a foot injury.
The 147th-ranked Myneni and 21-year-old Ramkumar, ranked 231, will play the singles while the legendary Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna will team up for the doubles rubber.
Bopanna and Paes have been teamed up for the grass court tie so that they can tune up for the Rio Olympics.
IMAGE: Yuki Bhambri
Photograph: PTI
