Davis Cup Preview

Written by: Staff on 14th November 2013

Serbia vs Czech Republic tennis Davis cup final draw

Davis Cup Preview

epa03949480 Serbia's world no.1 Novak Djokovic (right) shakes hands with Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic (left) during the draw ceremony for the Davis Cup final in Belgrade, Serbia, 14 November 2013. Serbia will play against Czech Republic in the Davis Cup World Group finals from 15 until 17 November in Belgrade. EPA/ANDREJ CUKIC |

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Davis Cup

See the Feature for our Preview. The big news is that Janko Tipsarevic is out of the Davis Cup final.

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Men’s Look Forward: Davis Cup Final

On paper, the final between Serbia and the Czech Republic should have been a blowout. Novak Djokovic tops Tomas Berdych, and Janko Tipsarevic tops Radek Stepanek, and that’s it, right? Of course right.

Except…. For starters, Tipsarevic doesn’t top much of anyone right at the moment. He has been in bad form all year, and on Wednesday night, he concluded he couldn’t play due to plantar fasciitis. Which left the Serbs with Dusan Lajovic as their #2 singles player. And Djokovic is tired, and while Nenad Zimonjic gives the Serbs one good doubles player, he doesn’t really have a partner. The lack of Viktor Troicki really does hurt the Serbs right now. On the other hand, at least they don’t have anyone as old as Radek Stepanek.

The lack of backup for Djokovic, and Stepanek’s age, raised interesting strategic considerations. Normally, of course, the Serbs would have played Djokovic and Tipsarevic in singles, and perhaps Zimonjic and Tipsarevic in doubles (although their listed #2 doubles player is Ilja Bozoljac); the Czechs would have Berdych and Stepanek play everything (although they’re pretending the doubles team is Lukas Rosol and Jan Hajek). The expected outcome of that theoretical case was that Djokovic would win his two matches, Berdych would beat Tipsarevic, the Czechs would have the edge in the doubles, and who knew about Stepanek versus Tipsarevic? That would be two points to Serbia, two points to the Czechs, and one up in the air. Which meant both teams should have been thinking about possible ways to improve the odds in the Stepanek/Tipsarevic match.

One obvious thought was to hold Stepanek out of the opening singles contest with Djokovic , so he could be more rested for the doubles and reverse singles. After all, Lukas Rosol is ranked as high as Stepanek these days, and neither one is likely to beat Djokovic, and — no matter what the Czechs say publicly — Rosol isn’t likely to play the doubles. (Although he isn’t much more rested than Stepanek; he just made the final of the Bratislava Challenger. But he’s younger….) But two teams can play at that game; that raised the thought that the Serbs might hold Tipsarevic out of the singles against Berdych. Wheels within wheels….

None of it happened except that Tipsarevic won’t play. The #1 non-move when the draw came out was that Stepanek is listed as playing the opener against Djokovic, with Berdych versus Lajovic to follow. It looks as if the two nations will split the first two matches. But with Tipsarevic out, the Serbs can’t expect any singles wins except from Djokovic. So they really need the doubles. Which makes the decision to play Stepanek against Djokovic very strange; the Czechs should be going all-out for that point. But that’s just strategy. It still looks as if the doubles will probably decide things, and we won’t know the actual doubles teams until after Friday’s singles.

The event is being played in Serbia, so the crowd will obviously be trying to help the Serbs win their second Davis Cup title. Whether they can make up for the lack of a #2 singles player is an open question.

The Rankings

This is the one round of Davis Cup which is worth enough points to really matter — for players who get to play live matches. It won’t matter to Djokovic; he is stuck at #2, and even two live matches won’t move him much closer to Rafael Nadal. It might help Berdych; he has a shot to regain the #6 spot from Roger Federer. It’s an even bigger deal for Stepanek, if, somehow, he can win two live matches, it could translate into a huge move. And if Lajovic can win even one match, he is likely to hit the Top Hundred.

KEYWORDS: Preview Davis Cup Final

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