[caption id="attachment_22498" align="alignnone" width="580"]Spanish-team Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez having a unique practice session at the Centre Court of DLTA on Wednesday. Image Source: Xtra Time[/caption] New Delhi, Debasis Sen: With just 48 hours to go ahead of the Davis Cup World Group play off tie, mind sets of both India and Spain were evident at the DLTA complex. While favourites Spain looked lot more positive and focused, hosts India seemed to be going with the motion as far as practice sessions are concerned. Nadal and the Spanish team sweated it out for a good two and half hours in the morning withstanding the humid conditions, Indians on the other hand trained in batches. Spain after having a rigorous training session under the watchful eyes of coach and 1994 Wimbledon women’s singles champion Conchita Martinez, came back again in the evening with the full team to train at Court No 1. It was an intense training session for the visiting Spanish tennis team that turned into fun watching for a few fans gathered at the DLTA complex as Marc Lopez and Rafael Nadal aimed at empty ball boxes with their serves. David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez were first to hit the courts in the morning session and once they were done with their routine practice — the groundstroke’s, the volleys and the serves — in came Nadal and began his drill under scorching heat. There was nothing unusual, with Rafa too following his routine practice schedule until captain Conchita Matrinez got Nadal and Lopez to one side of the court and asked them to target the empty ball boxes with their serves. Two ball boxes each were placed on the corners (T and W) of both service courts (deuce and advantage). The Rio Olympic doubles gold medallist kept firing and after a long shoot, Nadal finally managed to down one. Marc, by then, already had three shots on target on both sides. He hit another one with ease and raised his arms in flying posture, expressing delight following his successful aim. The serve-session ended when the small ball hopper that can carry about 75 of them was emptied by the two players. [caption id="attachment_22502" align="alignnone" width="580"]India-team India's Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali with Leander Paes at the sidelines of the Centre Court of DLTA complex on Wednesday. Image Source: Xtra Time[/caption] Just as the Spanish teams were about to finish their training session, India’s non playing captain Anand Amritraj and coach Zeeshan Ali walked in to have photographs with Nadal. Both key members of the Indian support staff team were soon seen having a game against each other while the players apart from Sumit Nagal preferred to stay at the hotel. The Indian players came for their training session after 2 pm with Ramanathan Ramkumar, Saket Myneni and Sumit Nagal had a knock at the Centre court and Court No 1. India’s top pro Leander Paes did join the training session after attending an event. But untimely rain in the capital forced him to return back to the locker room. The attitude of the home team looked a lot to be desired as it will be an uphill task for them to qualify for the World Group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzmTuGbX0KA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LWGmAbuZu0

Davis Cup: Contrasting mind sets from India and Spain ahead of tie