Davis Cup: India bank on home advantage

NEW DELHI: Having played back-to-back Davis Cup away ties, the Indians are happy to be p laying their latest encounter at home. They hope to make the most of the home advantage when they play an untested Togo on the weekend.
In 2022, they earned a promotion winning their home match against Denmark in the Capital before dropping down following a loss to Norway in the away game. They suffered another setback in 2023 losing the away encounter to Denmark before recovering with a win over Morocco in Lucknow. Last year too, they did well by beating Pakistan in Islamabad before again suffering reverses in another away tie against Sweden.
"I think we played most of the ties away and somehow in Scandinavia, which was a joke amongst us. It looked like we're going to Scandinavia again this time too. So, from Finland (loss in 2021) to Sweden to Norway to Denmark, we've been everywhere," captain Rohit Rajpal said here on Thursday. "We went and played in Pakistan too. So, we're really hoping that we get more ties (at home). You know, there's certainly an advantage when you play at home. There's no two ways about it."
Rajpal, a former Davis Cupper himself, said that despite being the higher-ranked team and having the home advantage, India are World No. 38 while Togo are No. 73, the hosts are not taking their rivals lightly. "We could not get too much information about them online. So, we were waiting for them to show up here and will watch them carefully. They have beaten 10 teams on the trot and they are high on confidence," he said.
"They're hitting the ball pretty good. We were a little surprised. They look quite talented as well. And a s far as chances are concerned, it's Davis Cup. We don't take anybody lightly. We've ourselves beaten some very, big and good teams. So that is part of Davis Cup. We are ready for everything, whatever comes our way."
Ramkumar Ramanathan added: "We should just stick to our strengths and we should play to our capabilities and not think much about them. I think if we do that, we have a good chance."
Mukund rues lack of depth
India's top ranked player in this mix, Mukund Sasikumar, has a world ranking of 365. Ramkumar Ramanathan is world No. 406, Davis Cup debutant Karan Singh is 496. Sumit Nagal, who's not taking part in the tie, has the best ranking among the Indians at 102, having dropped out of top 100 recently. So it came as no surprise when Mukund said he's 'hurt' by the numbers. "It hurts a little bit when I read or when I look at the numbers saying the No. 1 ranked player is 360. This depth is kind of disappointing because first I am an Indian tennis fan and then I am a player. So as a well-wisher of Indian tennis, this is not something that I really enjoy reading," Mukund said.
"In the past I was 200 and something and I was No. 5 in India. That was so because so many guys were much ahead of me. God willing that depth is coming soon again."