Tennis Davis Cup 2010: Novak Djokovic all set for the semis tie
The United States Open finalist Novak Djokovic will get an opportunity to make his way into another major final this weekend when his country, Serbia will meet the Czech Republic in 2010 Davis Cup contest.
Novak, who was defeated by the world number one tennis ace Rafael Nadal in the final of the year’s last major event in a total of four sets on Monday, will lead his side on indoor hard court in the best-of-five semi-final in Belgrade, starting from Friday.
The world number two, Novak Djokovic is undefeated in four clashes in the event this season.
“It is one of the important competitions and the interest of the Serbians is huge. I am all set to play in Belgrade and looking forward to it. In my opinion, my defeat to Rafael will not affect my game and form over there,” said Djokovic.
In another semi-final clash, France on indoor hard court is going to host Argentina in Lyon.
As far as the World Group playoffs are concerned, they are scheduled as United States versus Colombia, Austria versus Israel, South Africa versus Germany, Italy versus Sweden, Brazil versus India, Belgium versus Australia, and Switzerland versus Kazakhstan.
The American side has dropped out of the World Group just on a single occasion since it started back in 1981. Without the States player Andy Roddick who will be in Colombia, the American team will be represented by Sam Querrey, John Isner, Ryan Harrison
and Mardy Fish.
Patrick McEnroe, the American skipper will step down towards the end of this week. He officially announced his retirement during the United States Open tennis tournament in New York. Patrick has served for a total of ten years and also guided America to
a Davis Cup trophy three years ago, back in 2007.
Novak will play alongside Nenad Zimonjic, Viktor Troicki and Janko Tipsarevic versus the Czech side of grass court Grand Slam finalist Tomas Berdych, Jan Hajek, Radek Stepanek as well as Ivo Minar.
The 23-year-old Djokovic got the better of Swiss tennis master Roger Federer in the semi-final round of the 2010 United States Open tennis tournament, after bouncing back on two occasions from a set down to triumph in five. That placed him in the title battle
against Rafael, who has captured the previous two Grand Slam trophies at the Roland Garros as well as Wimbledon and completed his career Grand Slam by succeeding in New York.
“I have been playing quite well over the last couple of months and my confidence level has increased to a great extent from Wimbledon up to this stage. I am playing much more actively on the court now,” said Djokovic.
Serbia has never previously made it into the finals as an independent team. As Yugoslavia, the team made it into the semi-final of the World Group back in 1988, 1989 as well as in 1991.
The final for this year is scheduled from 3rd to 5th December.
Argentina, on the other hand, is also attempting to reach the final on the third occasion in the last five years. The side will be led by David Nalbandian, who has so far triumphed in a total of three single clashes and one doubles match in the contest this
season, despite skipping most of the previous season as a result of his hip injury.
“It is going to be really hard. In my view, it is even going to be harder than Russia in the quarters however, we have to play at our very best and we will not give up until the end. We have set our eyes on the semis,” said Nalbandian.
He will be joined by Eduardo Schwank, Horacio Zeballos and Juan Monaco versus Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon and Michael Llodra.
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