The Indian tennis team was pleasantly surprised when it learned that the indoor hard courts for the upcoming Davis Cup match against Finland were not as sharp as expected and had less bounce.
Indian players on Tuesday got a chance to practice on the match court, which was temporarily carpeted at an ice-hockey stadium in Espoo, and after the first hit, it was discovered that it was spectator-friendly in a limited but significant way. Is.
Non-playing captain Rohit Rajpal had said before leaving for Finland that he was looking forward to faster hard courts but realized that was not the case.
“What they have done is that they took out the snow and put a wooden plank and laid the court on top of it, so the bounce is less which suits us but at the same time the slowness of the court does not suit us,” Rajpal said. said. said PTI.
“Europeans mostly play on clay courts which are slow, so they love to rally and that is their strength. Our Indian players don’t do that but less bounce will definitely benefit us and our strategy will revolve around that.
Asked how the low-bounce court would be a good fit for Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who too have spent a lot of time training and playing in Europe, Rajpal said the reason for his shots was performance.
“We can chip in and charge, our players often do. Both Ramkumar and Prajnesh hit flats and a low bounce will be of great help to him. You can’t do this in a high bounce court.”
The two-day match starts on Friday.
Finland has high-ranked players in both singles and doubles, but Rajpal, for whom this will be his third encounter as captain, said the Indians have a chance.
Finland’s top-ranked player is Emil Rusuvuri, who is ranked 74th in the ATP list, while India’s best player Prajnesh Gunneswaran (165) is not even in the top 150.
The left-handed Indian had recently lost to Rusuvuori on the Tour.
“On paper they are a better ranked team than us but this is Davis Cup, I say it is 50-50. It also depends on how things go on the first day. It is important for us to score 1-1 on the first day. Doubles is going to be an important match for both the sides.”
“As the days go by and we get to see more players, our strategy will be clear. The team looks to be in good shape, the boys are playing on tour so they are quick.”
Players have entered the Bio-Bubble where they are confined to their apartments, hotels and venues. The apartments are located just outside the official hotel, where they go only for meals that are served in a separate protected area.
The winner of the tie will qualify for the qualifiers in 2022 while the losing teams will play-off to retain their place in the World Group I next year.
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