As Novak Djokovic gears up for the Davis Cup Final 8 stage, he might doubtlessly run right into a rival with whom he shares a tough historical past. Serbia will face Great Britain within the quarter-finals and with Andy Murray and Dan Evans absent, their path seems to be simple. Cameron Norrie is now the foremost singles participant for the island nation and can possible face Djokovic within the singles tie. The final time they met, they’d an altercation with the Brit accusing the Serb of tardiness.
Great Britain topped their group within the Davis Cup group stage whereas Serbia completed second in theirs. Murray introduced his withdrawal following a shoulder harm. This additional weakened the squad that was already reeling from Evans pulling out. Norrie is the highest-ranked singles participant (No.18) however has endured an underwhelming and inconsistent season. He will now take up the mantle of the first singles participant.
World No. 60 Jack Draper is just 21 whereas Murray’s alternative Liam Broady is ranked outdoors the highest 100. Doubles specialists Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury spherical up the squad.
Serbia, in the meantime, are totally stocked. Djokovic might be joined by Laslo Djere, Dusan Lajovic, and Miomir Kecmanovic. The latter, at World No. 55, is the bottom ranked out of this quartet. 20-year-old World No.111 Hamad Medjedovic completes the workforce.
The headline singles conflict will possible be Djokovic taking on Norrie. The duo final confronted off within the ATP Rome Masters Round of 16 the place the previous received in straight units. However, the match was marred by the duo taking photographs at one another. The Serb took offence to Norrie taking medical time-outs and yelling after each level. He stated whereas gamers are legally allowed to take action, it is a consensus that such issues will not be honest play.
Norrie hit again at Djokovic, accusing him of coming late for the match and never apologising for it. (by way of TennisHead)
“The match was scheduled for 11 am. And we walked out perhaps 11.12 am, 11.13 am. I don’t suppose he noticed any drawback with that. He by no means stated something to me. And he by no means apologised. “I requested: ‘Was that OK to do this?’ They [the officials] stated: ‘Yeah, it is inside the guidelines.’ After quarter-hour, he will get defaulted. I stated: ‘OK,’ and I continued warming up.”
He stated he had by no means seen any participant do this earlier than and acknowledged one ought to all the time be on time.
“I’ve by no means seen that earlier than from any participant. Regardless if it’s a tennis match or not, you flip up on time for no matter it is.”
Novak Djokovic additionally had a run-in with Ben Shelton
Novak Djokovic lifted his twenty fourth Grand Slam title on the US Open. He beat younger American Ben Shelton within the semi-finals. The match was fiery and headline-grabbing. The 20-year-old was loud and vocal all through the fixture, aggressively celebrating after factors. The eventual champion, nonetheless, had the final giggle as he received in straight units. He imitated the native rookie’s ‘dialling the phone’ celebration as he secured the match.
Djokovic drew flak from many corners for copying Shelton’s celebration. However, it is a trademark attribute of the Serb to get beneath the pores and skin of opponents to rile him up and beat them convincingly to emerge on high. Norrie will possible get a style of this as nicely of their potential Davis Cup Final 8 conflict. If Djokovic turns up trying to shut him down with their tiff in Rome on his thoughts, the Brit is in for a tricky time on the court docket.
