Davis Cup 2022- India

[sameerph]

Draw for World Group 1 playoffs was made a couple of days back and we have a home tie in March against Denmark. Denmark has second highest under 19 player in the world Holger Rune who is ranked 103 and 226th ranked Mikael Torpegaard and also have a top 100 doubles player in Frederik Nielsen.
So, they will pose a strong challenge.

This is the latest news on the tie-

Davis Cup 2022: All India Tennis Association Starts Process To Identify Venue For Denmark Tie

[jayakris]

^^^ Play it on grass and let's go!

[PKBasu]

Fantastic decision to play the Davis Cup tie against Denmark on the grass courts of the Delhi Gymkhana Club on March 5-6. I play on those courts regularly, and they are dramatically different from the club's clay and hard courts. For me, it is a pleasure to play on the grass courts, although of course they are traditional grass courts with soft (low) bounce, occasionally unpredictable. Serve and volley are rewarded disproportionately. Perfect for Ramkumar, and not too shabby for Yuki if he is fit.

[Sanjay]

Very ironic that at Delhi LAWN Tennis Association, there are no grass courts.

[PKBasu]

Ironic indeed. I recall watching Vijay Amritraj lead India to a spectacular victory over Argentina in March 1987 on the grass courts of the DLTA, but those no longer exist -- and have been replaced by hard- and clay courts. A real pity that they have no grass courts at the DLTA (now renamed the National Tennis Centre).

Delhi Gymkhana (where I play regularly) has about 25 grass courts, which are lovingly maintained. There are no stands for spectators, though, which will take away some of the uniqueness of a Davis Cup match. I presume some make-shift stands will be erected. It would have been so much easier to play this on the South Club grass courts in Kolkata (which hosted the 1993 R1 World Group match against Switzerland that I also had the pleasure of watching).

[jaydeep]

Our Davis Cup squad is announced for the next month's Denmark tie ... Yuki is in the team in place of Sumit.

Indian Squad - Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Yuki Bhambri, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan
Reserved players - Saketh Myneni and Digvijay Pratap Singh
Non-Playing Captain - Rohit Rajpal
Coach - Zeeshan Ali

Davis Cup: Nagal dropped; Yuki back for Denmark tie

[sameerph]

Expected team in current circumstances with Sumit still recovering from injury. Only surprise inclusion is Digivijay Pratap Singh as reserve. He is ranked at 1410. Maybe the selectors think that he has good grass court game. There can be no other explanation.

[jaydeep]

Anand Amritraj interview.

Davis Cup: Why India are favourites to trump Denmark

"The fact that we got the opportunity to hold matches on grass will be a massive advantage. Danish players will be used to slow hard courts or clay surfaces, and they will not prefer the faster grass courts one bit. India needs to capitalise on this and prove they are superior grass players. However, it will not be a straightforward task. But I really reckon that we are firm favourites,"

When quizzed about the relevance of the Davis Cup in the current era that celebrates Grand Slam culture so much, Anand said, "Davis Cup is an emotion. It is without a doubt, the World Cup of tennis. Playing for your country is different from playing for individual milestones, and that is a novelty that is hard to come by."

[sameerph]

Denmark's top player 18 year old Hodger Rune who is ranked 88 in ATP singles ranking has withdrawn from the davis cup tie. So, not highest ranked Dane playing would be 278th ranked Torpegaard and second singles player would be 785th ranked Inglidsen.

I would be disappointed now if we do not win this tie.

[Rajiv]

I want 5-0 and nothing less than that

[prasen9]

I will take 3-2. But, I think 5-0 is a reasonable expectation.

[PKBasu]

They have built temporary stands for spectators, which means I won't be able to play on the grass courts for most of March! Nearly 4000 spectators will be able to watch, and they aren't selling any tickets (so it will be free admission). Anyway, yes, 5-0 will be the only acceptable result!!

[PKBasu]

Frederik Nielsen, who won the Wimbledon doubles title partnering Jonathan Marray (through whom the pair got a wildcard into the main draw), is still ranked 59 in doubles and is the playing captain of the Denmark Davis Cup side. Apart from Wimbledon, he has won just two other doubles titles on the ATP tour -- one of which was the 2014 Chennai Open title! He was basically a Challenger journeyman most of his career, until that dream run at Wimbledon.

I believe Nielsen/Marray are the only wildcards to have ever won the Wimbledon doubles title. They did beat a lot of good pairs along the way, including the Bryan twins. Goran Ivanisevic, of course, won the 2001 Wimbledon singles title as a wildcard -- but that wildcard was well-earned (he had made 3 singles finals at Wimbledon, and just happened to be ranked 125 because of injury breaks etc.), while Marray/Nielsen got it just because of Marray's nationality.

[jaydeep]

The draw is out ... Ram is playing in the first rubber and Yuki in the 2nd.

Friday, March 4
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Christian Sigsgaard (DEN)
[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND) vs Mikael Torpegaard (DEN)

Saturday, March 5
[R3] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Johannes Ingildsen (DEN)/ Frederik Nielsen (DEN)
[R4] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) vs Mikael Torpegaard (DEN)
[R5] Yuki Bhambri (IND) vs Christian Sigsgaard (DEN)

[sameerph]

There were a couple of selection questions- Yuki or Prajnesh for second singles and Rohan/Divij vs Rohan/RamK for doubles. They chose Yuki for singles and Rohan-Divij for doubles. RamK is playing a futures level players ranked in 800's while Yuki's opponent Torpegaard is a decent challenger level player.