Prajnesh Gunneswaran, In the form of his life, is confident of a stellar show on grass when India will clash with fancied Italy in the Davis Cup World Group Qualifiers, next week.
The southpaw from Chennai made a remarkable turnaround post a stress fractures in his knees to achieving a career-high 104 recently.
“I’m good on grass. I beat (then World No. 23) Denis Shapovalov recently. I should be able to do well here,” Prajnesh told PTI here.
“I did well in four, five tournament at the end of last year. I consistently did well in four Challengers. Those were my best results. I think we will have a slight advantage. We just need to fight hard and close the gap.”
Breakthrough season
In a breakthrough 2018 season, Prajnesh won two Challenger titles and also upset now world number 27 Denis Shapovalov on grass at Stuttgart Open.
“Here we will have a strong crowd support and we all will give our best making full use of the home conditions. The team atmosphere is just perfect and we have come here well in advance to get used to the surface. It’s reflecting on my game,” the World No. 109 said.
He will have Ramkumar Ramanthan with him in singles.
“I know him for a long time, both from the same city and both in top 150.”
Considered a ‘late bloomer’ on the wrong side of the 20s, Prajnesh hopes to soon break into top 100 as he aims a spot top 50 in 2019.
“My target is to be in top 50 but my (immediate) goal is to get inside 100. If I get there
“I will revisit my goals. I want to continue at least five to six more years. Knees are in great shape at the moment.”
With Italy’s being strong on hard courts, India has opted for grasscourts for the February 1-2 fixture which will serve as a qualification for the 18-nation World Finals in Madrid next year.
Pre-dominantly a baseline player, Prajnesh refused to reveal his tactics to tackle the unpredictable bounce on grass courts.
“I really don’t want to discuss the tactics, the kind of adjustments we will make. We will see on the day of the tie. Perhaps, I will stand lower to the ground and bend low,” he said.
His moment of reckoning came last year when he won the deciding fifth rubber against Yibing Wu in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1 semifinal last April.
