India should be favourites on grass courts: Vijay Amritraj on Davis Cup tie vs Denmark

By IANS

NEW DELHI: Tennis legend Vijay Amritraj feels that the Indian team will be ‘favourites’ to win against Denmark in the Davis Cup tie, scheduled to be played on the grass courts of Delhi Gymkhana Club (DGC), here.

India will lock horns with Denmark on March 4 and 5 in a World Group-1 play-off tie at the DGC.

“We would have to be favourites on the grass court. I know one of them is fairly decent on the grass,” Amritraj said in a press release.

“I don’t know exactly how high ranked these boys are from Denmark, but I do believe that Holger Rune is coming. There are potential challenges here but around Kumar, Yuki, Nash and all, our boys have played enough against them. It’s important to go in there, get a good start and control the game. You need to get that first set in the break. You’re in the driver’s seat,” he added.

Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna will complete India’s five-member line-up for the World Group I clash. For Denmark, world No 97 Rune is the highest-ranked player in the team. The winner of the two-day rubber will progress to World Group I ties later this year.

The player-turned-sports commentator also recalled his memories from Davis Cup history.

India has made it to the Davis Cup final thrice, in 1966, 1974 and 1987. But, for Amritraj, the title clash against the Swedish side at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg in 1987 will always hold a special place of pride in his heart. Although India lost 5-0 in the summit clash, it was the visiting team’s impressive run in the ‘World Cup of tennis’ — especially the come-from-behind 3-2 win against Australia in the semifinals – that made everyone sit up and take notice of the country’s charge in the racquet sport.

“Well, reaching the finals of the three Davis Cup will always have the pride of place in my house. But, the one right there on the top has to be the 1987 finals where we had lost to Sweden. The whole journey was kind of a special moment for us because we certainly weren’t the second best team in the world. Considering all the rankings and participating nations, still we were able to put together a cohesive team and train well. All the team members and managers shared a great rapport,” Amritraj recalled.

“So, we really got along well and, by the time we got to the final, it was just amazing. Talking about the 1974 campaign, needless to say, we defaulted the match in South Africa protesting apartheid for all the right reasons. I think the important aspect of it meant a lot to me because it was really more of a momentum of that default to South Africa than anything else,” he added.