India eye maiden Davis Cup title after six-decade wait, face South Korea in Seoul

New Delhi: India will look to end a near six-decade wait for a maiden Davis Cup title when it takes on South Korea in the second round of the 2026 Qualifiers on September 18-19 at the Olympic Tennis Centre in Seoul, with a place in the Final 8 in Bologna on the line.

India have reached the Davis Cup final three timles in 1966, 1974 and 1987, without lifting the trophy, and have never advanced to the Final 8 under the competition's current format, introduced in 2019, according to a release.

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The team's lineage runs through a set of players who built the country's tennis identity on the international stage: Ramanathan Krishnan, whose 50-19 singles record remains the best by an Indian; Vijay Amritraj, who played 17 years for India from 1970 to 1988 and was part of both the 1974 and 1987 final runs; Leander Paes; Mahesh Bhupathi; and Rohan Bopanna.

Paes remains India's all-time Davis Cup record holder - 93 wins (48 singles, 45 doubles) from 58 ties across 30 years, including a 25-2 doubles record alongside Bhupathi that featured a run of 24 consecutive wins between 1997 and 2010.

That body of work is the benchmark against which the current squad's push toward the Final 8 is being measured. India last met South Korea in 2016, winning 4-1 in Chandigarh; this time, the sides go in level on ranking terms, with Korea 16th and India 19th in the Davis Cup standings and Korea holding a narrow 6-5 head-to-head edge, the release said.

Meanwhile, Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri have been named in the Indian tennis squad for the second-round Davis Cup 2026 Qualifiers tie against South Korea, according to Olympics.com.

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Notably, Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri are India's top-ranked singles and doubles players, respectively. Nagal, ranked No. 235, will spearhead India's singles challenge alongside Dhakshineswar Suresh and Manas Dhamne. Suresh is ranked 393rd, while Dhamne, India's No. 2, is ranked 362nd and has earned his maiden Davis Cup call-up.

The Seoul tie will be India's first appearance in the second round of the Davis Cup Qualifiers since the current format was introduced in 2019. India will also be aiming to reach the Final 8 for the first time under the current format. South Korea reached the 16-team Davis Cup Finals in 2022 and 2023. India, meanwhile, have finished runners-up in the Davis Cup on three occasions -- in 1966, 1974 and 1987 -- under previous formats.

India's Davis Cup 2026 team vs South Korea: Sumit Nagal, Manas Dhamne, Dhakshineswar Suresh, Yuki Bhambri, N Sriram Balaji. Reserve: Siddharth Rawat; Additional reserve: Arnab Paparkar.