New Delhi, March 2 (IANS) India’s Davis Cup team non-playing captain Rohit Rajpal insisted that the hosts have a very good line-up in the doubles against Denmark. He added that players like Rohan Bopanna, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Divij Sharan can perform well against any good side.
India will take on Denmark in the Davis Cup in the World Group playoff I tie at the Delhi Gymkhana Club on March 4 and 5.
“We do have Ram and we do have Rohan and Divij Saran… so we have a very good line-up for doubles. We lost a very close match against Finland. I put Ram and Rohan for the first time in doubles against Finland. They lost in the tie-breaker. It was a very close match,” Rajpal said in a press conference here on Wednesday.
“I am glad that the players have great camaraderie and we have some good training here. Hope it will reflect in the court also,” he said.
Asked about a back up plan for the future as Bopanna is getting older, Rajpal said, “Some of the players are getting older. Rohan is getting on the other side of 40, so it worries me. As you know, there is a gap at the moment in Indian tennis, as you can see. There are four next generation players that we selected. That we felt and national coach Zeeshan Ali felt that they could be our future.”
“We have already put them in the team, sitting on the bench and seeing the match will give them experiences. Some coaches also joined us. So overall we are good going for the future. One more thing I would like to add is that AITA created a national Centre of Excellence and I requested Zeeshan Ali to move here for the benefit of players. We have picked up some kids, so a pipeline is created for singles and doubles both. We have a very structured and decent plan for the sport in future,” he said.
–IANS
–inj