It was more about heart: Vishnu

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After playing a stellar role in India's Davis Cup win over New Zealand in the absence of senior players, a young Vishnu Vardhan on Sunday said the tie was more about 'heart' and not just forehands and backhands.

After steering India to a 2-0 lead with his singles win, Vishnu defied cramps in a nerve-wrangling five-setter in the doubles rubber to seal the tie in the favour of the hosts.

Vishnu teamed up with debutant Divij Sharan to script a 7-6 (3) 4-6, 6-3 6-7 (4) 6-3 win over Michael Venus and Daniel King-Tuner of New Zealand.

"It's the best thing happened to me. I dedicate this win to the whole team. S P (S.P. Mishra) sir, Nandan (Bal) sir, Vece (Paes) sir, they have huge experience behind them. Divij was incredible on Saturday, Yuki (Bhambri) gave us the lead. It was more about heart and not just tennis," he said.

Vishnu said he was struggling to remain fit as the match progressed and credited Divij for keeping him relaxed and going.

"I was exhausted, losing legs. It was a long day, lot of emotions were there. It was a great effort by Divij. I was not injured but had stiffness towards the end of the third set or the beginning of the fourth set."

"We had figured out the strategy that I will be staying relaxed, taking a lot of fluids. I have seen Mahesh (Bhupathi) do that, Leander (Paes) do that in the Pakistan tie in Bombay. I just followed that. Result never bothered me," he said.

Divij, on his part, said he did not do anything extraordinary in the match, but praised Vishnu for his never-say-die attitude.

"Hats off to Vishnu, he played six sets on Saturday. I did not do much, I was playing fine. We came strong in the fifth set and stuck together," he said.