Tennis Davis Cup: Novak Djokovic defeats Tomas Berdych to even semi-final
The world No. 2 player Novak Djokovic defeated world No. 7 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic on Sunday to level the Davis Cup semi-final at 2-2.
Djokovic levelled the Davis Cup by 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and made it all square in the best of his five series.
Serbia is struggling to reach its first Davis Cup final, whereas Czech Republic was runner-up in the last season. Another Serbian Janko Tipsarevic defeated Radek Stepanek in the decisive singles match by 6-0, 7-6 (6), 6-4 on Sunday.
Djokovic’s home town crowd played a vital role in his victory; he rode the support of his hometown crowd of 15000 in the Belgrade Arena. The crowd was boosting up the energy of the player throughout the match.
“Thank you, that’s what we needed, you raised us from the dead. You got us out of impossible situation.” Djokovic told the boisterous crowd.
However, the U.S. Open 2010 runner-up Novak Djokovic had a pathetic start, dropping his serve in the seventh game to lose the first set.
Djokovic didn’t play the opening singles on Friday because he was tired from Monday’s final against Rafael Nadal and came to Serbian capital from New York two days before the match.
He played doubles on Saturday in a tiring effort that left Serbia struggling 2-1 and, therefore, the Serbian tennis player had to beat Berdych to keep Serbia’s hopes alive.
Djokovic returned into the match achieving 2-1 career edge over Berdych but the Czech had already won their Wimbledon semi-final. But afterwards Berdych lost the final to Nadal.
There were some scary moments throughout the match, especially in the sixth game of the second set, when he tried to hit the smash from the Berdych side but slipped and fell heavily. Although he needed an urgent medical break but only returned with a bandage
on his right knee. Fortunately after falling he appeared to be fit and strong, however had one break point as he continued the game.
Berdych tried his level best but unfortunately hit a backhand into the net to go down 5-3 and Djokovic served out the set to level at 1-1.
Djokovic stroked Berdych’s serve twice to go up 4-1 in the third round, and had a bad luck when he lost the next game with two straight errors, the Serb tackled the pressure nicely.
Berdych hit a drop shot that was really good until Djokovic reached it, winning the point with a soft backhand across the net. Djokovic stood on the sideline with his hands near to his ear. The crowd made a huge noise with excitement on the shot and Berdych
appeared to be mentally disturbed, as he dropped his serve again before Djokovic served out the set.
Once again Berdych missed the point with a smash and faced two break points in the ninth game of the fourth. He struggled to save one but not the other, as his silent shot hit the net.
Djokovic won the hearts of his fans, when he used his first match point with a backhand. Djokovic is an all-court player who usually plays an offensive baseline. His greatest strength throughout the match was his ground strokes, serve and attacking capabilities.
The world No. 2 was consistent off both wings, although his backhand was appreciated and noted by the crowd. With considerable speed, his serves were really impressive and proved to be one of his major weapons, which won him many points. Although his first
serve was quite flat but the Serb preferred to slice his second serves wide.
The Serb will be facing France in the Dec. 2010, 3-5 final. France has defeated Argentina in the other semi-final. Hopefully Novak Djokovic will live up to the expectations of his viewers and fans throughout the world and come out with impressing results
once again.
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