2010 Davis Cup Finals, Novak Djokovic and Gilles Simon to play second singles match on Friday
A total of two singles clashes are scheduled on the opening day of the 2010 Davis Cup Finals on Friday. Making their debut run the finals, the Serbian side hosts France in 2010.
France made its way into the final after getting the better of Russia in the semi-final round with a perfect mark of 5-0. The Serbian team, on the other hand, posted a close win of 3-2 versus Czech Republic to step into its very first final in the Davis
Cup competition.
While Janko Tipsarevic and Gael Monfils will square off for the first match of the day, Bogdan Obradovic, who is the Serbian coach, sends his highest ranked contender, Novak Djokovic for the second clash on Friday.
World number three Novak Djokovic will meet Gilles Simon of France. Considering his losses versus Czech Republic, the French coach, Forget, admits that he has nothing to lose pitting Gilles versus Novak.
The former World number two Novak Djokovic, is currently ranked below Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on the tour. The right hander finished his regular ATP year just five days ago after his semi-final run at the elite eight man field in London. The right
hander, who comes in with a win loss mark of 59-18 on the season, captured two crowns in 2010, at the China Open in Beijing and Dubai.
The Serbian also finished runner-up at the United States Open as well as Basel. His other major season highlights include a semi-final showing at Wimbledon and quarterfinal effort at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
His opponent, Simon, on the other hand, without any question is no match for the World number three Djokovic as far as the stats are concerned. Currently ranked number forty-two in the South African Airways ATP list, the Frenchman won just a single title
in 2010. He got the better of Mischa Zverev from Germany to pick up his only season crown at Metz earlier this year. Simon made no other title battle appearances and thus enters with a match record of 23-17 on the season.
It will be the pair’s seventh career encounter on the tour. In their last six clashes, the Serbian leads the head to head series at 5-1, having enjoyed five victories in a row against the French player. The only occasion Simon beat Novak was two years ago
at Marseille. This is their second encounter in 2010, having played earlier in the final eight round of the China Open in Beijing. Djokovic, once again, overpowered Simon in that match by posting a straight sets victory to win the title.
Simon, while commenting about his opening match against Djokovic, didn’t look confident on Thursday saying, "I know it is not going to be easy, but I already defeated him once".
Djokovic, on the other hand, looked much more relaxed and expressed his feelings about Serbia hosting the final in 2001 by declaring, “I think it is very symbolic, and I think it is 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. However not anymore I hope, as we are going in the right direction, and we are set
to forgive, ready to move on”.
Considering his form and the pair’s past record, the Serbian, definitely, is the hot favourite to win the match against the Frenchman in the Belgrade Arena on Friday.
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