Daniell hopes hard practice nets Davis Cup spot

Wairarapa's Marcus Daniell has high hopes of being actively involved in New Zealand's Davis Cup tennis tie with Pakistan in Hawera, starting on Friday, but he isn't about to put himself in the category of definite starter.
Most pundits are picking Daniell to be part of the doubles combination, either with regular singles player Rubin Statham, or newcomer Michael Venus, and being the top-ranked doubles exponent in the Kiwi side at 200 on the world list, has to be in his favour.
But Daniell isn't taking anything for granted, telling the Wairarapa Times-Age in a telephone interview from Hawera yesterday he would be going ''all out'' in practice sessions this week to convince captain Marcel Vos he was worthy of a starting spot.
''Right now there is no saying who will be playing what. You just have to show the form is where it should be and hope that you get the nod,'' Daniell said. ''Obviously, it would be disappointing to miss out but nothing is guaranteed, nothing at all.''
Daniell had his first experience of Davis Cup tennis when New Zealand edged out Sri Lanka in Colombo 3-2 a few weeks back. He was selected to play the doubles in combination with Daniel King-Turner _ who is unavailable for the Pakistan tie _ and they lost a hard-fought contest in straight sets 7-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Reflecting on that encounter, Daniell admits to being less than happy with his own performance. ''I thought I could have done better, it certainly wasn't my best game,'' he said, adding the hot temperatures and ''absolutely amazing''crowd support for the home team made the overall win more notable than most New Zealanders probably appreciated.
''The noise was deafening, they had a band which struck up after practically every point,'' he said.
''And, remember, this was the first time we had ever won a Davis Cup tie on clay ... we were pretty rapt to pull it off.''
Since that Colombo match, Daniell has continued to compete on the professional circuit and he has been ''pretty pleased'' with results, which have included a doubles title in a California tourney where he was paired with Michael Venus, who won the singles crown there.
''He is an awesome player who is probably playing the best tennis of his career right now,'' Daniell said of Venus, a 22-year-old from North Shore, who has spent most of his teenage years living in the United States, where he graduated from the Louisiana State University. He already has two Futures singles titles to his credit.
New Zealand will start hot favourite to continue on their winning way against a Pakistan side who don't have a player ranked inside the top 400 in singles and Daniell agrees any other result would be ''pretty hard to take''.
Playing the tie in the small Taranaki township of Hawera has been a matter of some controversy in tennis circles but, after an inspection of the ''very impressive'' indoor facilities there, Daniell is looking forward to the prospect of having a full house cheering the Kiwis on.
''Everybody is saying how keen Taranaki people are to come along and give their support, and sometimes that doesn't always happen in the bigger centres,'' he said.