Editors note: Novak didn’t play. Why? Was he that fried? He was in Serbia playing in the snow and getting lost in the mountains. Reminds us of Jim Courier being number one in the world and reading novels on his minute and half changeovers…. It’s about the here and now guys. Novak’s playing in a home tie was a no brainer. Stepanek said of Novak’s not playing the Saturday doubles in the 2013 finals of Davis Cup was likened to leaving the Ferrari in the garage. … This time the Ferrari stayed home….
Swiss Davis Cup coach Severin Luthi is living strictly in the present when it comes to his team’s Davis Cup World Group hopes after a sweeping 3-0 weekend win sparked by grand slam champions Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka.
The pair won both of their opening singles matches against outclassed Serbia, which was missing its main man Novak Djokovic. Now the Swiss are headed to the April quarter-finals of the world wide team competition while the Serbs will have to wait for the September playoffs in hopes of scoring a win to stay in the elite grouping.
But while Luthi – coach of Federer on the WTA with input from former Swedish great Stefan Edberg – is happy to see his side over the line, he knows that constructing a team for the quarters will be a last-minute affair.
Should both of the big guns choose to play, Switzerland would be in its best position in years to possibly win the Cup. “Thinking of going all the way is still much too far away,” said Luthi. “We can only focus on the next tie. In Davis Cup, it’s always difficult to plan ahead,” an obvious reference to the personal scheduling needs of his two main players. ranked third and eighth in the world.
“We’re very happy we won this tie, it was the perfect weekend for us. hopefully out next tie will be at home. It was a good team effort stand I could not be more happy.”
Federer was playing a first round for the first time since 2012 after not participating in 2013.
Topics: 10sballs, Davis Cup, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Severin Luthi, Sports, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tennis, Tennis News, Wta