Davis Cup 2010: Novak Djokovic - Radek Stepanek to open Serbia-Czech Davis Cup semi-final
The 2010 United States Open finalist Novak Djokovic has to shake off his disappointment after losing to Rafael Nadal, in his effort to lead Serbia past the team from Czech Republic to its first Davis Cup final.
Novak, who lost the rain delayed battle at Flushing Meadows on Monday, will play the singles semi-final match of the 2010 Davis Cup against Radek Stepanek from Czech Republic on Friday.
Djokovic returned to Serbia from New York only on Wednesday and admitted that he was physically and emotionally drained as a result of his final loss.
“It is definitely not easy to get over such a major loss and straight away start playing for another match within no time. However, I don’t have time to even think about it at the moment. I am quite confident that I will play well in the Davis Cup as I have faced such situation earlier in my career as well so I know quite well how to deal with it,” said Novak after Thursday’s draw.
In other action on Friday, Janko Tipsarevic from Serbia will take on grass court Grand Slam runners up Tomas Berdych in the second singles contest at the indoor hard courts of the Belgrade Arena.
Radek, who was once ranked in the top ten players in the world, has dropped down in world rankings to as low as number 35 and has been fighting a knee injury for most of the season. Novak has a 5-1 career record against him. While commenting on his match preparations, Stepanek said that he is all set and looking forward to the Davis Cup semi-final battle against Djokovic.
Both of them have played really tight matches against each other in their previous meetings so it is definitely going to be a close one beyond any measure of speculations. Novak has recently regained his world number two spot after reaching the final of the U.S Open, so his confidence level would definitely be higher than the Czech.
“We have played against each other on a variety of occasions so far in our career however Davis Cup is a slightly different competition than the rest of the tournaments on the tour. He is an experienced player and has great variety in his game. He can attack as well as play defensive game according to the situation of the match,” said Djokovic.
Tomas on the other hand, is looking forwards to celebrate his 25th birthday by securing a point for his team. Meanwhile his team is hoping to reach back-to-back Davis Cup finals for the very first occasion on Friday.
“The previous match I played against Janko was not that difficult for me. However, this time it is going to be totally different. He will be having the advantage of a home crowd behind him. Moreover, he has also played some good tennis over the recent past. He got the better of American tennis ace, Andy Roddick at the United States Open tennis tournament, which was great on his part,” said Tomas, the world number one Czech who is ranked number seven by the Association of Tennis Professionals.
He has a 2-1 record versus Janko. Their previous clash at the Davis Cup back in 2009 in Florida resulted in a 6-0, 6-4 victory for Berdych.
The doubles clashes in the competition are scheduled to be played on Saturday. In the doubles, Nenad Zimonjic along with Viktor Troicki from Serbia will meet Ivo Minar and Jan Hajek from Czech Republic. However, the line-ups can be altered until an hour prior to the match.
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