Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic to represent Serbia at the 2012 Hopman Cup – Tennis News
Organizers of Hopman Cup have announced that the current world number two in men’s tennis, Novak Djokovic, and former top ranked woman, Ana Ivanovic, will return to represent Serbia at the coming event in December.
Djokovic talked about his return to the event, "I love the atmosphere - you have lots of great players taking part in the tournament so it's great preparation for the first Grand Slam of the year."
The Serbian, who made his debut at this mixed event in 2006, will appear at the Hopman Cup for the fourth time in his career. He has a win/loss record of 15-5 at this tournament. The Belgrade, Serbia resident has won eight of the
10 singles and seven of the 10 doubles matches at the Hopman Cup.
Djokovic and Ivanovic failed to move past the round robin matches in 2006. They defeated Sweden and Russia but lost to USA to be unable to reach the final.
Jankovic joined Djokovic in 2008 and they won all of their round robin matches to qualify for the final that time. Jankovic gave walkover in the women’s singles against USA in the final, as she was unable to take court due to injury.
Djokovic defeated Mardy Fish in three sets 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-6(4) to level the score at 1-1 and take the encounter to the deciding rubber. Jankovic came out to play the mixed doubles match but her injury did not allow her to play at her best. Djokovic and Jankovic
lost to Fish and Serena Williams in straight sets 6-7(5), 2-6, going down in the final 1-2.
Ivanovic and Djokovic came together once again in 2011. They defeated Kazakhstan and Australia but lost to Belgium, finish at the top of their pool to advance to the final. However, Djokovic got unlucky once more as his partner,
Ivanovic, was unable to participate in the title match due to an abdominal injury.
The five-time Grand Slam champion said, "I've reached the finals on two previous occasions so I sincerely hope that now this time, with Ana, we can actually win a trophy."
Djokovic was recently replaced by Federer from the number one ranking in the world, as the Swiss Maestro beat the Serbian in the semi-final of Wimbledon and went on to claim the title.
At the last edition of Hopman Cup, Tomas Berdych and Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic defeated French players, Richard Gasquet and Marion Bartoli, in the final to capture the title.
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