India announce squad for Davis Cup tie against Denmark

The fixture is to be played across two days in the month of February 2023.

AITA (All India Tennis Association) has announced the five-member Davis Cup team squad for the World Group I playoff away tie against Denmark. The tie will be played across two days (3rd and 4th Feb 2023) at the Royal Stage Stadium in Hillerod, Denmark. The five-member squad consists of

1. Mukund Sasikumar

2. Ramkumar Ramanathan

3. Prajnesh Gunneswaran

4. Rohan Bopanna

5. Yuki Bhambri

Sumit Nagal will accompany the squad as a reserve player along with Rohit Rajpal continuing as the team's non-playing captain. 

Earlier in March 2022 India defeated Denmark 3-0 in the World Group I playoff match at Delhi Gymkhana ground but lost to Norway (1-3) in the World Group I away tie. Denmark in their previous loss was without the services of their star player Holger Rune currently ranked eleventh in the ATP singles rankings. He recently partnered with Sania Mirza at an exhibition match in the World Tennis League held in Dubai.

Sasikumar Mukund has been in stellar form for the past six months winning ITF tournaments and recently becoming the No. 1 Indian in the singles category ahead of Ramkumar Ramanathan. Saketh Myneni is the only notable absentee from the previous Davis cup squad but had to make way for Rohan Bopanna who is making a comeback to the team. Saketh Myneni and Yuki Bhambri won six ATP Challenger trophies together the most in the 2022 season and this performance also helped Saketh climb to a career-best 84th spot in the ATP doubles ranking.

Yuki Bhambri on the other hand became the second Indian after Leander Paes to get to the top 100 of both the singles and doubles categories. It will either be Yuki or Ramkumar partnering with Rohan Bopanna in the doubles match with Sasikumar and Prajnesh playing the singles tie. The performance at the ATP 250 Maharashtra Open can give us a clear idea as to who will be playing the singles and doubles rubber.