Jonas Bjorkman

New Delhi: 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson will spearhead the Swedish campaign against India in the Davis Cup World Group play-off to be held here from September 23 to 25.

The injury-hit seven-time champions will, however, be dependent on versatile Jonas Bjorkman to carry their flag in a tie the winner of which will progress to the World Group of the elite team competition next year.

In the absence of Joachim Johansson, world ranked 35 and no relation to Thomas, Sweden have called up seasoned Andreas Vinciguerra, who last played a Davis Cup tie in 2003 and is currently ranked 433 on the ATP Tour.

Simon Aspelin is expected to pair with Bjorkman with legendary Mats Wilander donning the role of non-playing captain.

Thirty-three-year-old Bjorkman has eight Grand Slam doubles titles under his belt and is a rare player accomplished in singles as well, with a semi-final appearance at the US Open being his best performance.

Bjorkman is no stranger to the Indian fans, having won the doubles title in the inaugural Gold Flake Open in New Delhi in 1996.

Sweden, who hold a 4-0 head-to-head record versus India, have made a special request for a last minute inclusion of Robet Lindstedt as a reserve player.

Lindstedt, 28, has an ATP Tour ranking of 73 in doubles.

Sweden lost to France 2-3 in the first round of the World Group this year.

India have already announced squad.

THE SQUADS

Sweden: Thomas Johansson, Jonas Bjorkman, Andreas Vinciguerra, Simon Aspelin. Non-playing captain: Mats Wilander; Reserve player: Robert Lindstedt.

India: Leander Paes (playing captain), Mahesh Bhupathi, Prakash Amritraj, Rohan Bopanna. Reserve player: Harsh Mankad. (PTI)