Meet Mikael Torpegaard: Denmark’s Davis Cup spearhead with a heavy metallic band

One quip from Mikael Torpegaard was sufficient to sum up Denmark’s strategy to the surface-rankings-home benefit discourse round their Davis Cup tie in opposition to India.

In the absence of world No.88 Holger Rune, Torpegaard is anticipated to spearhead the Danish problem on the Delhi Gymkhana Club. The 27-year-old will tackle Yuki Bhambri within the second singles rubber on Friday. Torpegaard and Bhambri are ranked 305 and 590 on the planet respectively. But rankings in Davis Cup may be misleading, as witnessed in India’s defeats to Finland and Croatia within the final two ties.
“I really like the idea of ​​embracing the underdog role and getting the opportunity to play a little more freely. It’s not often you get to take your chances on a surface you don’t know,” he mentioned.

The bit about shade blindness, nevertheless, was greater than a punchline.

“I actually can’t see which side the grass is greener,” laughs Torpegaard. “I’m truly colourblind and it may be troublesome on the court docket if it is very vibrant yellow, inexperienced or purple behind the ball. Then the colours type of mix collectively.”

Colourblind, positive. Tone-deaf? Certainly not.

Following within the nice Scandinavian custom, Torpegaard is a heavy metallic aficionado. The fluorescent yellow ‘Flying V’ guitar, regularly noticed in his Instagram feed, is “his darling”. He’s already acquired eyes for a James Hetfield-style ‘Explorer’ in neon pink subsequent. Recently, nevertheless, he has swapped the electrical axe for an acoustic guitar for a “passion project”.

Along with Tennys Sandgren — the tennis participant from Tennessee — Torpegaard is a part of a two-man band referred to as ‘Another Round’. It was in the course of the first Covid-induced lockdown that Torpegaard headed to Nashville, the house of nation music, to follow tennis with Sandgren. Off the court docket, he jammed, sang and recorded tune covers with the American, an knowledgeable drummer with sturdy nation music sensibilities. The duo acquired to writing and in late January, they put out a six-song unique EP referred to as ‘Dystopian Melancholy’.

We’ve been engaged on this for nearly 2 years. Just torp and I placing our hearts into these 6 songs. We are calling it doom acoustic. Listen, take pleasure in and tell us what you suppose. https://t.co/tktOZaafZD pic.twitter.com/wQGWU6cJQt

— Tennys Sandgren (@TennysSandgren) January 27, 2022

“We shared an interest in old school country music, the more acoustic genre which I love playing. Towards the end of the offseason we were like, ‘wouldn’t it be fun if we had something to put our name on’. So we spent two weeks and put something together that people actually have been enjoying,” says Torpegaard. “I’ve had a band previously, in a little bit of a different genre. A little heavier genre.”
The “heavier genre” is what Torpegaard describes as ‘melodious demise metallic’. His unique band is named ‘Mardröm’ (Swedish for nightmare). Last yr, they launched their debut album referred to as ‘Drawn to Delirium’.

“It’s a really good feeling because one thing about metal that I enjoy is the energy. There’s a mood for it, when you want to get going,” says Torpegaard. “The other aspect is the acoustic stuff. The EP with Tennys, makes you feel differently when you want to wind down. That was what we were trying to hit with this record and had so much fun doing it. And we’re already working on a new full album too.”

According to Torpegaard, the songs — soothing vocals in opposition to moody fingerpicking — additionally draw from their tennis careers.

“Plenty of them are very dystopian minded. They’re very heavy, a few of them are speaking about some issues we’re going via on the court docket, off-the-court stuff that is occurring to us. Tough instances are the very best inspiration.”

Enter Sandman

Tennis gamers have been actors, politicians, even musicians; French Open winner-turned-Afro-reggae singer Yannick Noah is touring Belgium at the moment. There hasn’t been a bonafide heavy metallic rockstar-tennis participant hybrid but. Torpegaard, nevertheless, isnt the primary Dane to try to journey these two longships.
Lars Ulrich, drummer and co-founder of the genre-defining band ‘Metallica’, comes from a tennis household. Father Torben and grandfather Einer represented Denmark in a mixed 176 Davis Cup matches and reached later levels at Wimbledon. Lars, too, started on the identical be aware, earlier than an ego-shattering transfer to California.

“In Denmark, I was ranked high enough to be one of the best tennis players in the country, but there’s only five million people there,” the nine-time Grammy-award winner informed Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. “When we came to Newport Beach… I wasn’t one of the best 10 tennis players in the street that I lived on! I jumped headfirst back into Iron Maiden, Saxon and Motorhead.”
Torpegaard cites Lars Ulrich as “an idol” and beams when discussing the howling guitars and thumping bass of ‘Volbeat’ and ‘Dissection’. Towering at 6’4, with a protracted blond mane, he would match proper into these bands.

On Friday, nevertheless, he takes heart stage with a racquet. He can serve massive, however the tall body could possibly be an obstacle on the zippy grass courts, the place the ball appears to be conserving quick and low. And whereas injury-ravaged Bhambri is returning to Davis Cup motion after 5 years, the person from Delhi is conversant in the circumstances and spent the higher a part of Thursday’s follow session sharpening his volleys.
Whether Torpegaard faces the music or hits the precise be aware, count on some heavy metallic tennis on Friday.
“I like to dial it up to 11, both on the tennis court and in the music. It’s one of my ultimate goals to break through in both places,” he says. “How cool could it just be to have a top 100 tennis player who, by the way, is also just a rockstar?”