Davis Cup Final Starting Friday: Is There a Serbian Advantage?

Lauren LynchNov 30, 2010

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After an exciting week of excellent play by the top players at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London, there has been a great anticipation for the BNP Paribas Davis Cup final. France and Serbia face off at the Belgrade Arena on the hard courts beginning this Friday, December 3, 2010. The question remains as to who is the stronger and more well-rounded team.

First, we will take a look at Serbia.

The Serbian team is lead by Captain Bogdan Obradovic, who has guided his team through the defeat of the USA 3-2, Croatia 4-1, and the Czech Republic 3-2. He has players all in the top 50s in the world including Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic, Viktor Troicki, and Nenad Zimonjic. The players have the advantage of being in their home country, Serbia, and remain undefeated in the arena where they are playing. The team remains confident about being successful.

Teammate and top doubles player, Nenad Zimonjic commented, "We have a strong team. We have a team that can play any country. Doesn't matter if we play away or at home, doesn't matter what surface. I believe we're very strong on each conditions that we are put to play. Especially playing at home, with the support that we'll get, I hope that it's going to be full capacity from the first point on, which is very important. I really believe we have a good chance to win."

Zimonjic is coming in to the Davis Cup very strong after winning the title at the World Tour Finals with his doubles partner Daniel Nestor and is only 2,350 points behind the World No. 1 doubles team, Mike and Bob Bryan, who they defeated in the semifinals last week. He previously teamed up with Janko Tipsarevic this Davis Cup, who beat top players Andy Roddick at the US Open and has a winning record against Frenchmen Michael Llodra and Gael Monfils. Janko Tipsarevic is the World No. 49. It still remains in question who will be the second singles behind Novak and who will be Nenad's doubles partner.

"It's very good preparation for myself. Every match that we win here, it's confidence boost for Davis Cup, which is very important. I'm really happy the way I've been playing last couple of weeks. My form is definitely going up. It is going to be completely different match in the Davis Cup because I don't have Daniel next to me. But it's important that I'm playing good tennis. That way I can help my team more," said Zimonjic after a big win in London.

The team also has the World No. 3, Novak Djokovic, who made it to the semifinals to be defeated by Roger Federer last Saturday. He has had a good year winning the China Open title and getting to the finals of the US Open, the semifinals of Wimbledon, and the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

"We all know that Davis Cup is very special competition. Playing in a Davis Cup final is the biggest success that my country ever had. Maybe it's a unique opportunity to have Davis Cup final played at home. Maybe we'll never have this opportunity again. We all are looking forward to that," Djokovic says showing his anticipation.

As the World No. 30, Viktor Troicki has also had some triumphs this year. He won the PTT Thailand Open Doubles title, made it to the finals of the doubles final at the Kremlin Cup with Tipsarevic, and went on to win the Kremlin Cup Single's title against Marcos Baghdatis for his first ATP World Tour title.

Zimonjic does not doubt France's team saying, "The good thing about French players is they're good on any surface. They play club matches. They practice in different conditions, different surfaces. That makes them better players." Though he remains secure about his team adding, "Here Novak was definitely doing a big part, being undefeated this year. But then the other guys stepped up when we needed it. It was Viktor in the match against the States. First day was a big win against John Isner. I thought doubles was very important against Croatia second day after being 1 All. Then Janko came up with the two huge wins. I believe it's the whole team."

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