Davis Cup: India have home advantage, crowd support and conditions also suit us, says captain Rohit Rajpal

By Vivek Prabhakar Singh
New Delhi [India], February 25 : India are all set to take on Denmark in the Davis Cup World Group-I Playoff tie here at the Delhi Gymkhana Club. The Rohit Rajpal led side will enjoy the crowd support as well as the home advantage as they are going to play on their preferred surface.
"Conditions wise like I said what makes your Davis Cup special is your home advantage, the crowd is behind you. Then the surface which is your favourite surface. These are the conditions that normally suits the home team and we are hoping that it is going to work for us. That is the strategy that we have," said India's Davis Cup captain Rohit Rajpal while speaking to ANI.
What has come as a huge advantage for India ahead of their Davis Cup tie is that the Denmark team's top-ranked player Holger Rune has pulled out of the tournament but Rohit Rajpal still feels that Denmark can be a tough opponent as they have a former Wimbledon Men's Doubles Champion Frederik Nielsen in their side.
Rajpal said that the Indian team is are not taking things lightly against Denmark.
"I think it is an advantage no doubt about that but like I said I mean they have Frederik Nielsen who is a captain. He is a former Wimbledon winner. There are other people who are there in the team. These guys are pretty tough guys as well. So, like I said this is the World Cup of tennis. You are not going to get any easy team or any easy matches. We are prepared for any eventuality and we are expecting if you have seen historically Denmark and India have had tough and close matches. So, we are preparing ourselves for a tough match and we are not taking anything lightly," said Rajpal.
All the Indian players who are going to compete in the Davis Cup tie against Denmark have arrived in Delhi and will practice in the grass-courts of the Delhi Gymkhana Club in order to get used to the conditions.
Elaborating further on the team's preparations, the Davis Cup captain said, "The mood in the camp is quite upbeat. The entire team is here now and they have all come back from different tournaments. Rohan and Ram won two back to back tournaments. So, that was a great win. Boys have been playing tournaments week after week. It was just a matter of coming here and getting used to the bounce here on grass courts and that is what we are working here with the boys at the moment."
With players like Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Yuki Bhambri in singles while Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan as doubles players in the team, Rajpal exuded confidence of India's win.
"We have a very well rounded team with Ramkumar, Yuki and Prajnesh. These guys are professional and playing all over the world they play to a very good level. Doubles like I said Rohan and Divij are there. We also have Rohan and Ram playing together. We have Saketh as well who can play singles and doubles both. So, I think it is a very well rounded team and we are hoping for the best."
Dr Anil Jain, President of the All India Tennis Association too is excited about the India versus Denmark Davis Cup World Group-I Playoff tie and is hopeful that the hosts can win it.
"We are very much excited and we think that India is going to win this time. Though the Denmark team is a good team and all the European teams you know can do wonders but still, we are hopeful that we will be winning," said Jain.