New Delhi: India's top singles player Somdev Devvarman and non-playing captain S P Misra are hoping to exploit the home conditions to re-enter the Davis Cup World Group when they host Brazil in the play-off tie in September.
India have played a lot of away-ties in the Davis Cup in the recent past and the last time the team played at home was in April 2008, when they defeated Japan.
Even after playing on away venues, India have done exceedingly well to progress to World Group from the Asia/Oceania group I after 11 years.
With the ascendancy of Somdev, victories came over Chinese Taipei and South Africa in their own den, last year.
And now that India will play at home in favourable conditions, both Somdev and Misra seemed excited.
"I'm really excited about playing Brazil. I think they're a very good team but we have a big advantage playing at home," Somdev told PTI.
Misra added: "This is what I was looking forward to. This home advantage is crucial. It's long time that we played at home. Luckily we have got for a World Group play-off tie."
Brazil are known to be a formidable outfit on clay courts, so India are expected to host them on hard courts.
But in spite of home advantage, Somdev expects a tough fight in the encounter.
"I think Brazil is a very good team. They have very good doubles players. Belucci has been having a great year and they have other guys who are playing really well too," he said.
Misra said he would urge All India Tennis Association to host the tie on hard courts.
"They are clay court experts, so we should have home advantage but they are a difficult lot. Somdev prefers playing on hard courts and it's AITA who has to decide the surface. I will let them know the players' preferences," he said.
"I'm not so sure about the hard courts. We haven't played a home tie in a while so I'm sure the surface of the tie will be a good topic of discussion. I'll be interested to see what surface we play on and where the tie will be," Somdev said.
Brazil have a top-30 player in Thomas Bellucci and two other top-100 players in their ranks, so both Somdev and Misra are aware of the competition at hand.
"The tie is a few months away and a lot of their team selection will depend on how their players are playing at that time. So it will be interesting to see who they will play but it will be a good change for us either way," Somdev said.
"We haven't yet decided what the surface will be but I can imagine we'll pick something we're more comfortable on that them. I think we'll also be more accustomed to the climate and conditions here," he said.
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