“He taught me how to volley, how to come in, how to approach certain shots, analyse players and their passing patterns. World Cup Qualifiers: US need at least a point on Tuesday at Honduras. ’Two early breaks in the third and Thiem made sure he would be able to celebrate his 24th birthday on Sunday with a win to extend his domination over the Frenchman to 6-0. The result ended a run of five successive draws and left them on 11 points, two behind Ireland, who they will play in their final qualifier in Cardiff, and four off leaders Serbia. Getting a big-name foreign coach and sacking him after a few poor results would prompt others to think twice about coming to India and would be akin to papering over the cracks. Only the five group winners qualify for the World Cup. We wanted to know why we had failed against countries ranked lower to us. ’Gaining at least a point on Tuesday at Honduras is critical for the United States’ chances to qualify for an eighth straight World Cup. Dolgopolov’s best Grand Slam showing was a run to the Australian Open quarterfinals in 2011. “It’s lucky when it does go in but either way, I probably would have just had a tap-in if it didn’t.