The sun is shining brightly over the grass courts at the stately Delhi Gymkhana Club. Spring is keeping the temperatures in the mid-20s and after a long Covid-induced hiatus, top sporting action is back in New Delhi.
Come the weekend, India will take on Denmark in its World Group I playoff. It has been three years since India hosted a Davis Cup tie. It last hosted Italy in Kolkata and lost the tie 1-3.
The weather and choice of surface (grass) are making team India feel upbeat about its chances to prevail over the visiting side. Both sides had rigorous training sessions on Wednesday but Denmark is extremely happy with its preparations, too, going into the tie which will be played on March 4-5.
The war in Ukraine is having its effect in the world of sports, too—international sports federations like FIFA, World Athletics, World Rowing and FINA have banned Russian athletes and officials from taking part in any events in their official calendar following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Danish Davis Cup team is also feeling concerned about the war.
Asked about his views during the press conference, Danish captain Frederik Løchte Nielsen minced no words while expressing his anguish over the situation.
"I am baffled it (war) can happen in our time," he said. "We are supposedly enlightened and informed, yet is it our best solution to conflict? To go into another country and start killing... I feel bad for the people involved. It is a great shame for our world leaders. I am pro-peace and hope we find a solution soon."
Back to tennis, Rohit Rajpal, India's non-playing captain, expressed happiness over the team's preparedness to take on the Danes with things going exactly as per the team's plans.
"We are very happy we got here early," said Rajpal. "We wanted at least 10 days before the tie. The boys have been playing the Tata Open, the tournaments in Pune, Bengaluru and Dubai, and are match sharp. But they have been playing on hard surfaces, so we needed time to get used to grass courts. So far, everything has gone according to plan."
Both captains refused to divulge their pairings for doubles, which could well be the clincher in the playoff or even their singles' preferences before the draw takes place on Thursday.
Nielsen brushed aside remarks about the hosts being a far stronger side than his. "The most experienced guy we have here is Mikael Torpegaard (ranked 210) but we have very good young players. There is an 18-year-old who will be a big name in the future for us. There are two college guys," he said.
Describing the courts as "old school grass courts" that play fast with service, he warned the hosts not to consider his team a pushover.
"Time will tell who these conditions are advantageous for," he said.
"India has decided on the conditions, which gives its team the biggest chance to win here. I like our chances too. We are here to play for the win. We are not here to make up the numbers.
"I have a lot of faith in my boys. It won't be the biggest upset in the history of Davis Cup (beating India at home) but we are keen to cause this upset."
Rajpal described his team as a "good lineup". The Indian captain expressed his happiness to have Yuki Bhambri back in the team.
"We are happy to have Yuki back on the team. We have been working on his fitness over the last few months to get him ready for this tie. He had some good wins in Dubai and is shaping up very well. We will take a final call tomorrow."
He mentioned how since he took charge a 'think tank' in the team has been created, which includes coaches, captain and senior players like Rohan Bopanna.
"As a leader, [Bopanna] plays a very important role. I like to take a lot of his advice on board as well," said Rajpal.
The Indian team also got valuable tips and a pep talk from tennis legend and Davis Cup star Vijay Amritraj.
