New Delhi : Despite having former Wimbledon men’s doubles champion Frederik Lochte Nielsen in the Denmark team, India’s captain Rohit Rajpal has said that hosting the Davis Cup World Group Playoff I tie on grass courts at the Delhi Gymkhana Club (DGC) on March 4 and 5, is a well-thought-out plan.
He added that the Indian team is focusing on their strengths and that will be their strategy going forward against Denmark. However, he said that the Denmark team is still more than capable of doing well, despite its top player Holger Rune being pulled out of the action.
“We also looked at the discomfort of the opponents. I am sure if we had travelled to Denmark, they would not have liked to face players like Ramkumar and Rohan on grass courts. We had a long discussion with Yuki and Rohan about the court. After discussing with all the players we have decided that grass is the best option,” he explained.
Asked about the defeats to Finland and Croatia in the previous matches, the India skipper hoped that his players will be more consistent against Denmark.
“Don’t forget, we will be playing with support from the crowd. We have a home advantage. And we all know that Denmark’s players are not comfortable on grass courts. We have a very good chance here,” he added.
Rajpal said that the team is not taking the clash against Denmark lightly. Denmark does not have a singles player inside top-200 in the squad but Rajpal said they won’t take anything for granted. They will be led by Mikael Torpegaard, ranked 278 on ATP charts
“We are not going to take Denmark lightly. We know that there are no easy matches here,” said the Indian captain.
–IANS