Davis Cup news: India confident heading into ‘tricky’ Denmark tie

James Richardson
March 2, 2022

India feel their quality on court and home advantage gives them the edge in their upcoming Davis Cup tie against Denmark.

With Holger Rune having pulled out of the tie, Denmark are left without a singles player in the top 200 of the ATP Rankings.

India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan believes that rankings will count for little when Denmark visit the Delhi Gymkhana Club.

“Ranking doesn’t matter in Davis Cup. Obviously they are a great team. (Frederik) Nielsen has been playing for so many years. He is the captain and even though ranked 700th, he is pretty good. I have seen him play,” Ramanathan, said on Wednesday.

“(Mikael) Torpegaard has been playing for few years. now, out of college, he does well in the United States, a tricky player. We still have the advantage but nothing to take away from them. It going to be a good tie.”

India have opted to play a Davis Cup tie on grass courts for the first time since 2016, which Ramanathan feels could give them an edge.

“Davis Cup is important. I make sure that I am in the team whenever I can. Obviously to win a Davis cup match is something that stays with you forever,” Ramanathan said.

“We are playing on grass. We know the conditions better then other team, that gives us a slight edge over any opponent. We are here early and we have been practising a lot. It is going to be fun. Courts are looking good. So looking forward to the matches.”

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Ramanathan does not specialise in either singles or doubles but has won his only career titles in a duo.

He feels that playing doubles has aided his singles game, while it has also proven an arena where India have produced a number of notable players.

“I have always played a mix of singles and doubles. Wherever I played, I always tried playing doubles because it gonna help me be better at net and also improve my singles game,” Ramanathan said.

“Of course when you lose early in singles, it is something that keeps you going and also doubles helps your confidence.”

Ramkumar Ramanathan