Denmark captain Nielsen: We will make it difficult for India in Davis Cup

The captain of the Denmark team, Frederik Nielsen, who had won Wimbledon doubles title in 2012, assured that his team would play its best on March 4 and 5

The Denmark Davis Cup tennis team, with its captain Frederik Nielsen (second from right) at the Delhi Gymkhana Club on Sunday.

The Danish team was happy in warm weather and fast grass courts as it opened its preparation for the Davis Cup tie against India at the Gymkhana Club on Sunday afternoon.

The captain of the Denmark team, Frederik Nielsen, who had won Wimbledon doubles title in 2012, was pleased with the 'nice court, beautiful club', and assured that his team would play its best on March 4 and 5.

"India playing at home is the favourite. But, we are not here to have fun. My boys will play to win. We will make it difficult for India", said Nielsen.

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The Danish team does miss its leading player, the 88th ranked Holger Rune, but the captain took the situation in his stride and said that Denmark would compete hard with available players.

"We know that India has very solid singles players. Yuki (Bhambri) was top-100 and so was Prajnesh (Gunneswaran). Ramkumar (Ramanathan) is playing well. You have a very strong line-up in doubles. My friend Bopanna has already won two titles this season and was in another final", said Nielsen, as he assessed the strength of the Indian team.

The 27-year-old Mikael Torpegaard is the best ranked player in the Denmark team at 278. In comparison, Ramkumar is ranked 177 in singles and 92 in doubles.

Looking at the best of three sets format for each rubber, the Danish captain felt that his team had a realistic chance of taking the fight to the Indian camp, despite the contrasting rank of the players.

The Indian team had a long session for singles and doubles with all the players assembling in strength.

Owing to another spell of overnight rain, only two courts, that were kept covered, were ready in the morning for practice. Soon, two more courts were available, as they dried up in warm weather, making it
convenient for the coaches Zeeshan Ali and M Balachandran, to make all the ten Indian players have rigorous training.

With about a week to go for the tie, the Danish captain said that there was enough time for his players to adapt their game to the grass courts, and the time difference of four and a half hour.

"The weather forecast is good, and I don’t think we will have any interruption", said Nielsen, quite versatile and sharp in his role as the playing captain.

The dope control team was also present at the venue and collected samples of the players.