India's ace tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran ahead of the Davis Cup tie against Denmark on Monday said that rankings don't matter so much and added that the Danish team's singles squad is not deep as it could have been after the World No. 90 Holger Rune confirmed his unavailability for the two-day rubber on the grass courts of the Delhi Gymkhana Club (DGC) here.
Three-time finalist India will lock horns with Denmark in the World Group playoff I tie on the weekend of March 4 and 5 here.
Rune, the winner of the 2019 French Open boys' singles title, was expected to spearhead the Danish challenge against India - no other player from Denmark is ranked inside the Top-200 of the ATP world rankings.
The presence of the ITF Junior champion (2019) would have spiced up the proceedings at the Davis Cup, with some exciting contest expected between India's singles players Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Yuki Bhambri.
Talking about Rune, Gunneswaran told ANI: "Rune is not here so the singles squad is not deep as it could have been for Denmark. Of course in Davis Cup rankings don't matter so much. It could be either way even if on paper we are stronger."
"So, I think it is not for the ranking such to go in there and try to play well as much as possible. Nielsen is an experienced player and that will be a good match with Nielsen in doubles," he added.
The two-day rubber on the fast grass courts of DGC will be the first tie between India and Denmark since September 1984 when the visitors won 3-2 at Aarhus. The only other time both sides faced each other was in 1927 when Denmark blanked India 5-0 in the quarterfinals in Copenhagen.
"Preparation has been going pretty well. Overall looking forward to it. We had a few days of practice here and think we are all enjoying the conditions and looking forward to it," Gunneswaran said.
"The captain has got a lot of options. Ram, Yuki and myself we can all play on grass. We all had good runs here, especially Rohan is a veteran, he can play on any surface. So, we are looking forward to having a first good day," he added.
India's squad for Davis Cup: Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Yuki Bhambri, Rohan Bopanna, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Divij Sharan. Reserves: Saketh Myneni and Digvijay Pratap Singh.
Denmark's squad for Davis Cup: Mikael Torpegaard (ranked 210), Johannes Ingildsen (ranked 805), Christian Sigsgaard (ranked 833), Elmer Moller (ranked 1708), Frederik Lochte Nielsen (captain).
Coaches: Martin Killemose Linnet and Jacob Holst, Physio: Kim Lykke, Chief of Sports: Jens Anker Andersen, Press Officer: Thomas Hansen, and Vice President: Henrik Maris.
( With inputs from ANI )
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