In an environment of unexpected optimism, caused by its classification in extremis thanks to the victory of Russia against Spain last Sunday, Serbia faces this Wednesday (16:00, #Vamos) the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup Finals. Play at the Madrid Arena against Kazakhstan, “the most underrated team” in the opinion of Novak Djokovic, the omnipresent leader of the Balkan team, whose dependence on the world’s number one is absolute.
Quite the opposite happens to the Kazakhs, who have more shared responsibility. Djokovic himself explains it very well: “They won their group and they have a great player like Bublik, an all-rounder, tall, with great service, a very talented tennis player and a good hand. Kukushkin is a longtime veteran of the national team. I remember we had a game of almost five hours at Davis, in Serbia. A tough guy to deal with. And they also have great doubles “. The Belgrade star does not forget that tough tie in the first round of 2016, when they had to overcome the last day a 1-2, after his victory against Nedovyesov and Troicki’s defeats against Kukushkin and Nole’s own doubles with Zimonjic against Golubev and Nedovyesov, who continue to form a couple in the whole of the rich ex-Soviet republic full of Russians nationalized at the stroke of a checkbook by the president of the Federation, the millionaire Bulat Utemuratov.
Djokovic and Troicki settled the ballot at that time and now the former is still the master of his team and the latter serves as captain. On Tuesday, Nole returned they trained at the center with Kecmanovic and I greet an old acquaintance who is part of the Kazakh technical team although he is also Russian, Boris Sobkin, the respected coach who took Mikhail Youzhny to his highest heights and trainer in his day of the Serbian Laslo Djere.
Happy days in Spain
Djokovic is happy in the capital of Spain, despite the regime, not excessively strict, bubble. He hums in a falsetto voice while balling and in the dressing room he is inspired by a phrase written on a panel that reproduces the first verse of a popular song of his nation, Marcha al Drina: ‘In front! Go, heroes. Go away and do not regret your life. ‘
The king of the ranking is also motivated to show off with the crowded stands: “We are very excited to play with the public, because we did not have it in Austria.” In addition, he sees a possible Balkan derby against Croatia, another covered as Kazakhstan that already expects a rival for the semifinal on Saturday.
Davis Cup results.