To be in India again is nice.
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Spain may be overwhelming favourites in their upcoming Davis Cup World Group Play-off against India, but their star player Rafael Nadal is in no mood to take the hosts lightly.
This waiting and patience game continues up until the evening even after both Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni have left post their doubles workout. The conditions are unsafe. But, there’s always a special feeling attached with the Davis Cup. “I have played in an era when tennis greats like Roger Federer were at their best and that is a satisfying experience”, he said. “So we have maximum respect for all our opponents”, Nadal told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday.
“Our immediate target is to return to the World Group”. You have got us here (World Group Play-off stage) and we are proud of that. “I think that we can beat them in the doubles, no question about that”, Indian captain Anand Amritraj sounded optimistic about winning doubles tie here.
Marc Lopez and Feliciano Lopez already have this year’s French Open doubles title to their name and took the same flight with Nadal after losing in the US Open semi-finals. Ramkumar Ramanathan is the other singles player in the team while debutant Sumit Nagal is the back up doubles option for India.
Paes also made it clear that the next generation players need to push him out of the team and earn their place. “It’s a hard tie and it’s good for us to have have Nadal and Feliciano Lopez” Ferrer said. “We can play to our strengths and see how we match up”. “I will try to give my best”. “It will be a challenge for him to come from juniors to this level of tennis”, Paes said.
“I have been playing in the Davis Cup since I was 17. We had some great success in this competition”, he added. “They will be playing at home in front of home crowd in conditions they chose”, Nadal said. According to a statement released to the press by the DLTA General Secretary Lt.Col Ranbir Chauhan, this was done “in order to encourage young tennis players to come and witness the world’s leading players live on the courts of DLTA”.
“These players play on Tour whole year”. “Olympics was definitely tiring and we had a long campaign at US Open as well. So if we had to play during day, I am sure we would have been ready”, Conchita, the 1994 Wimbledon champion and former world number two, said.
Rafael Nadal said a team like Spain should have been in Davis Cup World Group.
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“We have lots of good players in top-100, it’s tough for us not to be in world group, so we are looking forward to coming back to the world group, and that’s the chance to win here, it’s not going to be easy”.
