Niland chasing the noise as Davis Cup returns to Dublin

Irish Davis Cup captain Conor Niland is hoping another boisterous home crowd can raise the team's performance levels when they face China in the first round of World Group 2 at the Sport Ireland Campus on Saturday and Sunday.

Twelve months ago, the famed competition returned to Irish soil for the first time since 2015 with a large and colourful crowd turning up at the University of Limerick to see Ireland battle hard against an Austrian side that contained 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem.

Another bumper crowd is expected as Ireland, 5-0 play-off winners over Saudi Arabia in February, try to secure a World Cup 1 play-off spot for 2026.

"It’s great to be back with a home tie, 2015 to 2024 we had nothing in Ireland," Niland, a non-playing captain, told RTÉ Sport.

"A great tie against Austria in UL last year, 2,500 people, and again here in Dublin at the sports campus it looks incredible with 2,000 people again for the weekend, so we’re really excited."

"Limerick is always going to be in my memory, it was an unbelievable weekend," he added.

"I’m from Dublin so hopefully we can get a good crowd to back us for the weekend."

Ireland, who will be represented by Michael Agwi, Peter Buldorini, Conor Gannon, Ammar Elamin and David O’Hare, are above their opponents in the Davis Cup rankings but the visitors include some stellar names, including Bu Yunchaokete who achieved a career-high 65th in the world singles rankings earlier this year.

"The Chinese guys, they’re top players," Niland continued.

"74th in the world (Yunchaokete), just coming from the main draw of the US Open. Our number one, Michael Agwi, is 500th, but in the Davis Cup anything can happen and the rankings aren’t quite reflected in the performances.

"We were really competitive against Austria in the singles last year so I expect to be really competitive with the home support. Hopefully every seat is filled and people are noisy."

A new court was flown in on Monday and laid and dressed on Tuesday giving the Irish team a clean run to Saturday's singles action.

A win would be massive for Irish tennis and would open a route to potential World Cup 1 tennis.

"I think Group 1 for us as a nation right now would be a great place to be," Niland continued.

"We’ve had two Group 1 play-off matches the last couple of years, Austria at home and Peru away, who are top class nations.

"China are a top-class nation so it’s good that we’re playing these countries and getting this experience."

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