Novak Djokovic leads Serbia to Davis Cup semi-finals

The best tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, led the Serbian national team to the semi-finals of the Davis Cup. In Malaga, where the final part of the tournament is taking place, the number one ATP ranking had to fight not only with his opponent, the British Cameron Norrie, but also with the public. He eventually loudly advised the latter to shut up. The Serbian team will compete with the Italian team for a place in the final. That is, Djokovic will again cross paths with Jannik Sinner, who was recently deprived of the opportunity to achieve the highest achievement in his career: the Serb beat the Italian in the final of the final ATP tournament.

Novak Djokovic has already had a great season. Along the way, he won seven titles (including all but Wimbledon, Grand Slam tournaments, as well as the final ATP Championship). This is his best performance since 2017. Only twice in his career has Djokovic collected more trophies – 10 in 2011 and 11 in 2015. But, despite the obvious fatigue that had accumulated since the beginning of the year, the 36-year-old veteran went to Malaga, Spain, for the final part of the Davis Cup, in which eight of the strongest teams in the world participate, for another trophy (Djokovic won the Davis Cup only once – in 2010). And he immediately made it to the front pages of sports publications. However, not at all because his meeting with the British national team player, the 18th racket of the world, Cameron Norrie, in the quarterfinals of the tournament became some kind of tennis masterpiece. Djokovic had previously met the Briton three times (the last time at the relatively recent Masters 1000 series tournament in Rome) and calmly won all the matches. Yesterday’s meeting at the Davis Cup was no exception (by the way, this victory was Djokovic’s 21st in a row in the main team tournament of men’s tennis – the last time he lost in it was back in 2011). And considering that in the first match of the Serbian-British confrontation Miomir Kecmanovic beat Jack Draper, a doubles match was not required at all to identify the semi-finalist. And yet, despite the routine nature of the event, it attracted international attention. Simply because in the post-match interview on the court, Djokovic pointed his hand at the British sector and told him to shut up.

British fans, whom the Daily Mail called the team’s semi-official support group, sat on the stands behind the referee and beat drums throughout the match, in violation of tennis etiquette. And it was especially strong when Djokovic was on serve. To be fair, it must be said that not all Britons liked the behavior of this group. Many of them tried to call them to order, but in vain.

“Learn to respect players, behave, learn to respect people, shut up, be quiet!” – Djokovic could not contain his emotions after the match, when he gave a protocol interview on the court. And he even showed with his hand who exactly he was addressing. It is noteworthy that the captain of the British national team, Leon Smith, refused to condemn the behavior of British fans. “The good thing about the Davis Cup is that it’s supposed to make noise,” he said. “We’ve had enough of quiet tennis. Yes, Djokovic was annoyed, but I don’t think it was that bad.”

In the semifinals, the Serbian national team will meet with the Italian team (the second semifinal pair was made up of the teams of Finland, which was stronger than the Canadians, and Australia, which beat the Czech team), which beat the Dutch (2:1) in its quarterfinals. And this meeting, it is possible, will turn out to be an early final of the tournament. After all, the Serbian and Italian national teams include two of the strongest players at the end of the season – Djokovic and the fourth number in the ATP ranking, Jannik Sinner. Most recently, last Sunday, they met in Turin in the final of the final tournament of the season. In that match, Djokovic, who started the tournament with problems (he barely made it into the playoffs), gave a master class to his 22-year-old opponent, whom he beat in two sets and deprived of the chance to win the biggest title of his career. By the way, for Djokovic, the Turin victory was the seventh, record-breaking triumph at the final tournaments of the season. Now Sinner has a chance to at least partially get even with the offender.

Alexander Petrov