Davis Cup: India likely to host Spain on the grass courts for the World Group tie

INDIA WILL PLAY tennis giants Spain in the Davis Cup, World Group play-offs, after the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced the draw in London today. 

While India will enter the contest as the underdogs, the fact that they will be hosting the Spaniards on grass could come as a huge boost.

India beat South Korea last week in Chandigarh on Grass and it is unlikely that the hosts will prefer clay or a hard court, given the superiority of the visitors on those two surfaces. 

As reported by PTI, India’s coach Zeeshan Ali explained, 

“They are one of the toughest teams in the world. Anybody out of the World Group is tough. And Spain is a team that has 12 players in top-100. It's even harder. In my opinion, grass is the option but monsoon will end and we have to see if it is possible to play on grass at that time in September. It's actually not the season to play on grass and there is not enough time to prepare. It's not like hard courts. You just can't put grass on courts, it has to grow.” 

"We are discussing the surface with the players. The time frame is only seven weeks. After the players express their choice, the AITA will speak to local federations, who are willing to host the tie.” 

While World No.4 Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco won’t be featuring in the tie, the Indians will still have quite a task of overcoming the firepower of veteran ATP players, Robert Bautista Agut, Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez. 

India will take on Spain from September 16-18 and the hosts will have a chance to pass on their inputs on their preferred surface to the AITA before tomorrow.