Indian players hesitant to travel to Pakistan for Davis Cup tie; AITA makes fresh appeal for venue change

Two days after India's Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi stated that his players were hesitant to travel to Pakistan to play the arch-rivals in a tie in the Asian Oceania Group 1, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has written to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) requesting the clash to be shifted out from Islamabad.

The Davis Cup clash between India and Pakistan, earlier scheduled to be held on September 14-15, was postponed by the ITF to November 29-30 after escalating tensions between the two nations. However, they have refused to change the venue of the clash despite repeated emails from the AITA stating that Pakistan isn't "conducive" to play in, given the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"The players have written to us, asking us to request the ITF to shift the venue. And we have written to the ITF today," AITA honorary secretary general Hironmoy Chatterjee had told Times of India. He added, "We have mentioned the seriousness of the situation and also how it was obvious during the UN summit," referring to the speech delivered by Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan.

On Sunday, Bhupathi told reporters that players were having second thoughts of playing in Pakistan. "The tie is on. It will be played on grass in Islamabad. There are no issues from the government, but I am not sure if players want to go to Pakistan and play."

The AITA had earlier requested the venue to be changed to a neutral one in August, which was refused by the ITF. The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) too ruled out shifting the Davis Cup outside Islamabad, which left India with no option but to either travel to the country or forfeit the clash.

The tie was then postponed till the end of November after an in-depth security review of the current situation in Pakistan was conducted by an independent expert of security advisors.