our best chance in 4 years, says Zeeshan Ali

New Delhi: Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali expects top-level action in India’s forthcoming away tie against Canada, to be played indoors at Edmonton as external factors like the weather will not influence the contest.

Zeeshan said his players were expected to do well in the World Group play-off, starting Friday.

“Playing indoors is something our players like, especially Yuki (Bhambri). He played top class tennis the last time we played indoors against New Zealand. I don’t really see any disadvantages for us but then it also doesn’t give us any advantage over them,” Zeeshan said on Wednesday.

“The conditions are perfect playing on indoor courts as there is no outside elements to worry about like wind and sun. The quality of tennis automatically goes up by about 20 per cent,” he said.

Both Zeeshan and former captain S.P. Misra believe that India are better placed to qualify for the World Group when compared to the last three years, when they had to play formidable teams Serbia, the Czech Republic and Spain.

These three came to India with strong line-ups and proved too strong. India will face a threat from Canada’s rising star and world number 51 Denis Shapovalov and leading doubles exponent Daniel Nestor. World no. 11 Milos Raonic is missing from action due to a wrist injury, which also forced him to skip the recent US Open.

“With Raonic injured, we expected this team except Brayden Schnur, who is a bit of an unknown entity. Denis Shapovalov is having a great post-Wimbledon season and is in form. It won’t be an easy tie but the chances are the best we have had in four years,” Zeeshan said.

Zeeshan said having a one-week training camp on the indoor courts at University of Columbia had helped the team.

“Having this camp was a very good idea as fitness is a cause of concern with our players. It gave us more time to evaluate players, who might be nursing an injury or are not fit enough to play five sets on consecutive days even if they are not injured.

“The camp went off very well. We did about four hours of training every day. Most importantly, we got to practice indoors. “We also played matches on the last day of the camp with the Columbia tennis team,” he said.