‘Have to fight tooth & nail to beat Danes’

Express News Service

CHENNAI:  The Davis Cup World Group I Playoff tie between Denmark and India is important from an Indian perspective. It’s no hyperbole to suggest that this is one of the country’s biggest in recent years.

Coach Zeeshan Ali, who has been with the squad at a camp in New Delhi since February 23, agrees. In an interview with this daily, Ali speaks about the tie, how the camp went and the combinations that are in play with two days to go. 

On the camp 

We had a small camp from February 23. Because most of the boys had played in the Challengers (in Bengaluru), they came on the 23rd itself. The ones who were playing in Dubai (ATP 500) joined later. It was a good opportunity to get used to the grass at the Delhi Gymkhana. It was a good camp. We still have two days to go so by Friday, all the players should have settled in nicely. 

On the importance of the tie 

Any Davis Cup tie is special but this one is very important and the players know that. If they lose this tie, it will take two years to get back to this level (for all practical purposes this tie can be considered as a relegation playoff.

Teams: India: Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Yuki Bhambri, Divij Sharan, Rohan Bopanna Captain Rohit Rajpal  Denmark: Mikael Torpegaard, Johannes Ingildsen, Christian Sigsgaard, Elmer Moller, Frederik Nielsen Captain Nielsen