'Busy' Somdev may miss Commonwealth Games

LONDON: India No. 1 Somdev Devvarman, pushing to break into the top-100, has a packed late-summer schedule, courtesy the US Open and the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie against Brazil. 

The world No. 103, however, is unsure about how the latter part of the year, when the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games will be held, would work for him. 

Somdev will play a $50,000 ATP Challenger tournament in Winnetka, Illinois, next week. He'll follow that up with a Tour event in Newport and then another Challenger in the United States. For Somdev, the big goal for the next couple of weeks is to ensure that he climbs five to ten spots in the rankings so that he could seal a place in the main draw of the US Open - a novel way of looking at the top-100. 

After the New York Slam, Somdev will head to India for the Davis Cup tie against Brazil, to be played in Chennai in the weekend of September 17. 

That's the part of his schedule that has been firmed up, but the last quarter of the year when the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, starting October 3, and the Asian Games in Gaungzhou, China (Nov 12 to 27), will be held, is up in the air at the moment.