Novak Djokovic increased Serbia’s lead over Greece in their 2024 Davis Cup World Group I tie after an extremely dominant win.
For the 37-year-old Serbian, there will be many ‘lasts’ in the upcoming seasons. The 2024 Paris Olympics were very likely his last Olympic Games, and he also won’t get too many more chances to represent Serbia at the Davis Cup.
In the 2024 Davis Cup Finals Qualifiers tie, Serbia shockingly lost to Slovakia, which meant that if they wanted to compete in the Davis Cup Finals Qualifiers also next year, they had to win their World Group I tie.
The draw was ruthless to them, giving them Greece with Stefanos Tsitsipas. However, after Tsitsipas withdrew from the tie against Serbia, the team around Djokovic seemingly face almost a completed task.
Greece doesn’t have any players in the Top 500 on the ATP Tour, and facing a 24-time Grand Slam champion and a few more talented players seemed like an impossible challenge for the Greek team.
Djokovic was looking forward to the tie, as he enjoys the support from the Serbian crowd, not only when he plays in Serbia, but also all around the world.
“My subjective feeling is that people follow a lot when competitions are held in Serbia, but they also follow competitions around the world. What is beautiful pleases us, we all want it, for as many people as possible to follow.”
“Like any other, it is difficult, especially since it is an individual sport, everything depends on you, that is quite cruel. We have success at the world level that inspires the young generation to get active, to be interested in tennis and to play it. Since it is a global sport, you have the opportunity to promote your country.”
The new Davis Cup format, which splits teams into groups in which all teams play their ties at one venue, means that Serbia and Djokovic won’t get too many more chances to play in front of the home crowd, which is why he wanted to enjoy this tie against Greece.
“I don’t have any plans, only in the Davis Cup. I really just want to enjoy it because depending on the format and how things unfold in the coming years, maybe this is the last Davis Cup in front of the domestic audience, so I’ll enjoy it.”
It seemed that the Serbian team enjoyed their stay in Belgrade on the first day of competition. First, Miomir Kecmanovic took to the court, beating World No. 713, Aristotelis Thanos, 6-3, 6-3.
After him, Djokovic was the second Serbian player to showcase his dominance in front of the Serbian crowd, and the former World No. 1’s victory over his Greek opponent was even more dominant.
For a moment it seemed that Djokovic would win his match with two ‘bagels’, but that changed in the second set when his opponent, World No. 770, Ioannis Xilas, won one game.
As a result, Djokovic won the match 6-0, 6-1, increasing Serbia’s lead to 2-0 before the second day of the Davis Cup action. That means that Serbia now has three matches to add the one last point needed to secure the win in the tie.
