2010 Davis Cup Final: Friday Preview – Novak Djokovic vs. Gilles Simon
With the Davis Cup Final kicking off on Friday this week, two singles matches are scheduled for the day. Making their first-ever final appearance, Serbia hosts France this year. France moved into the finals after defeating Russia
in the semi finals with a perfect 5-0 mark. Serbia on the other hand enjoyed a close victory of 3-2 against the Czech Republic to move ahead.
With Gael Monfils and Janko Tipsarevic battling it out in the first match of the day, Serbian coach Bogdan Obradovic chooses his highest ranked player, Novak Djokovic for the second match. French coach Guy Forget chose Gilles Simon
to meet Djokovic. Given his losses against the Czech Republic, Forget admits he has “nothing to lose” pitting Simon against Djokovic.
Djokovic is currently ranked at third position in the ATP rankings below legends Roger Federer and world number one Rafael Nadal. He finished his regular ATP season only five days ago after he made a semi final appearance in the
Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Djokovic secured two titles for himself winning the final matches at Beijing and Dubai. He also made two final appearances this year, one at the United States Open and then at Basel. He also had a good run at the other Grand
Slams this year making it to the semis at Wimbledon and to the quarters at the Australian Open. He finished the season with an impressive 59-18 win loss mark.
Djokovic’s opponent, Simon lacks in every statistical sense it is possible. Finishing the season ranked at 42 in the rankings, Simon has only one title win to his name. Defeating German Mischa Zverev in the final, Simon won the
title at Metz. He made no other final appearances this season, finishing it with a win-loss mark of 23-17.
This will be the pair’s seventh meeting on the court. In their six past meetings, Djokovic leads the head-to-head 5-1 having enjoyed five straight wins over the French. The only time Simon managed to defeat Djokovic was at 2008
Marseille. This is their second meeting this season, having met earlier in the quarterfinal at Beijing. Djokovic defeated Simon by straight sets on his way to winning the title.
While talking about his match with Djokovic, Simon does show some confidence. He said, "I know it's not going to be easy, but I already defeated him once."
While talking to the New York Times, Djokovic expressed much pleasure about Serbia hosting the final this year. He said, “I think it is very symbolic, and I think it’s very much deserved—for the tennis team, for the country, for
the sport—because we put a lot of effort into improving the image of our country in the recent years. The history of our country is cruel. We have to face those issues or, should I say, we had to. Not anymore I hope, because we are going in the right direction,
and we are ready to forgive, ready to move on.”
Given the sense of pride and patriotism, Djokovic can be expected to be much motivated to win against the French, though he need not worry since the he enjoys a huge statistical advantage.
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