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3/4/10 8:38 PM | Ricky Dimon
Novak Djokovic and Sam Querrey will square off on Friday evening in the second USA-Serbia singles rubber. One player will be looking to give his team an imposing 2-0 lead in the first-round tie.
World No. 2 Novak Djokovic will be featured in Serbia's second singles rubber on Friday evening as the host nation faces the United States in first-round Davis Cup action. His opponent is the up-and-coming Sam Querrey, and they have already gone head-to-head twice in the relatively early stages of their careers.
Djokovic leads the series 2-0, having prevailed twice in 2008 (6-3, 6-1, 6-3 in the third round of the Australian Open then 6-4, 6-0 on the clay courts of the Monte-Carlo Masters). A huge favorite in any situation against Querrey, Djokovic will have the added bonus of playing in front of Serbian crowd inside Belgrade Arena.
As if he needed more advantages, Djokovic also has an edge over Querrey in terms of surface (clay) and Davis Cup experience. The 22-year-old is 12-6 lifetime at this event; 10-6 in singles and 2-0 in doubles. However, Djokovic is looking to reverse his 2009 fortunes, which saw him lose in straight sets to both David Ferrer and Rafael Nadal as Serbia dropped its first-round tie in Spain.
Querrey, who normally takes a back seat in Davis Cup competition behind countrymen Andy Roddick and James Blake, contested his lone tie in the semifinals of the 2008 World Group against the host Spaniards. The 6'6'' American fared well in his only "live" rubber, taking the first set from Nadal before losing 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
A much different player now (also much different from when he lost a pair of decisions to Djokovic), Querrey is up to a career-high ranking of No. 22 in the world. He won both the singles (beat Davis Cup teammate John Isner) and doubles (partnering with Isner) titles last month in Memphis, then extended Fernando Gonzalez to a third-set tiebreaker just two days later on the clay courts of Acapulco.
Djokovic had been in relatively uninspiring form this season until his most recent ATP event. He successfully defended a title for the first time in his career last week at the Barclays Dubai Championships, where he needed three hours and 21 minutes over two days to outlast Mikhail Youzhny.
Querrey is no pushover on the slow stuff, but his serve will not do as much damage on this surface. Furthermore, Djokovic and Nadal were the two best clay-courters in the world last year until they both suffered shocking upsets during the first week of the French Open. An upset here would be almost as surprising. Djokovic in four sets is the pick.
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ok, phew, just a slow start!
stu , 3/5/10 8:54 PM
How the hell did Isner get beaten :( :( Come on Sammy boy give it more heart!
FEDistheGOAT , 3/5/10 9:49 PM
you are too generous stu, he is pathetic :)
rfzr , 3/5/10 9:58 PM
haha rfzr, thanks for the reality check. i'm only looking at the online scoreboard and the 1st set "seemed" easy!
stu , 3/5/10 10:18 PM
get rid of this impostor and bring Novak Djokovic back!!
stu , 3/5/10 10:52 PM
haha these Serbian hosts are hilarious, playing we will rock you super loud at changeovers haha.
stu , 3/5/10 10:58 PM
Hmmm pathetic or not...it was enough... here we go... tomorrow Zimonjic and Tipsa and QF here we come!!!
zare , 3/6/10 12:25 AM
FEDistheGOAT, both Americans gave their hearts there and played great. Don't be too harsh on them. I was there today and must say that they impressed me. I am pretty sure they have many successful DC matches in front of them.
Yeah Stu, there was some weird choice of music :)). There was this one song about having nightmares and I tought it was just right for the situation since Isner was not playing his best in that part of the match.
danica , 3/6/10 2:30 AM
Nole wasn't that bad on the start of the match...he was actually pretty good!!! Serve was clicking. Forehand great as usual...I thought: Oh my god, I want clay season to start NOW!! But, after 2nd set a lot of ppl left stands (I believe they had to catch last buses etc and they thought that he would win in 3 sets for sure) and Nole was visibly frustrated cause of it, lost focus and started to make some crazy UEs. He said in his after match interview that he couldn't believe ppl couldn't wait a little bit longer...well, he forgot that this is Serbia. :)) Anyway, it was great experience, can't wait for next two days! :) Congrats, guys! Serbia loves you! :)
OllyK , 3/6/10 3:17 AM
OllyK,
I left after the third set of a Nole-Sam match. Couldn't sit there another minute. But husband send a message to stay till the end and so, I decided to remain (altough had some little fight with security who wouldn't let me back in). Anyhow, it was too long of a day, maybe that's why I took a brief nap during the tird set yesterday (a man sitting next to me kindly offered to buy me some coffee so I could stay awake :)) ).
I blame the organization for starting the matches at 4pm. Friday is supposedly the longest of the three days with two matches that could go to five sets each. Whoever thought of that clearly lacks some brains.
danica , 3/7/10 1:19 PM
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Nole's having an off-day again. *yawn*
stu , 3/5/10 8:33 PM