Novak Djokovic Plans To Play 2013 Davis Cup Competition

Written by: Staff on 12th October 2012

Novak Djokovic Plans To Play 2013 Davis Cup Competition

epa03424266 Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France during their final match at the China Open in Beijing, China, 07 October 2012. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG |

Novak Djokovic will certainly be making his return to Serbia ’s Davis Cup team in 2013 after opting out of this year’s campaign and only playing two rubbers since his nation won the trophy for the first time almost two years ago.

Djokovic insisted so long as he is fit following January’s Australian Open, he will spearhead the Serbian side that travels to Belgium for the World Group opener on February 1-3.

The world no.2 reluctantly decided not to play Davis Cup when he remodeled his schedule to concentrate more on personal glory and a spate of Grand Slam titles followed. By now Djokovic admits: “I’m really looking forward to play for my country once again.

“It’s a very special feeling and I love playing Davis Cup. It’s just that the scheduling of the Davis Cup is not so convenient for players, especially the top ones who play a lot of matches.”

Djokovic insists he will try to keep the sensible scheduling as a priority but admits the decision not to make himself available for Davis Cup selection was one of the most difficult in his career.

Speaking at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, he said: “Sometimes you have to make certain priorities depending on the season that you plan. I won [the Davis Cup] with my teammates in 2010 and that gave all of us wings, strong confidence boost that we used in the period to come after that.

“But we also all rate that title as probably the best experience that you can have because it’s a team competition. Team spirit is something we don’t get to experience that often, having a national captain on your bench supporting you, having all your colleagues from the national team supporting you whether you lose or not behind the court all the time.

“This year we had the Davis Cup tie right after the Australian Open. It was very grueling for me physically, so I couldn’t be there. Then after Miami again there was a long couple weeks for me, a long tournament there. Unfortunately, I had to miss that and we didn’t make it through the semifinals.”

Djokovic fraternizes with international teammates Janko Tipsarevic, Nenad Zimonjic and Viktor Troicki as much as possible on the ATP World Tour and the subject of Davis Cup is always paramount in their dinner table conversations.

“They’re the players I spend the most time with on the tour,” said Djokovic. “They’re from my country and I’ve known them the longest.

“We always speak about that. We share the same opinion: when we are together, we can bring the biggest success to our country. We hope we can all work our schedules for next season and seasons to come so we can play as much together as possible.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Davis Cup 2012, Janko Tipsarevic, Nenad Zimonjic, Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis news, Shanghai Rolex Masters, Sports, Tennis News, Viktor Troicki