When Djokovic is a lonely superhero

Despite possessing a Djokovic in extremely excellent form, the Serbian team could not overthrow the Czech Republic's throne in the Davis Cup. The reason: he was too lonely, while this was a team tournament.

The Czech Republic is the 5th team in history to defend the championship.

No one can fault Djokovic for his efforts for his country. Returning to Serbia on the heels of his ATP World Tour Finals triumph, the world number two continued his impressive form with two straight singles victories, first a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 win over veteran Radek Stepanek on the first day of play, and then a 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-2 win over Tomas Berdych, whom he had just beaten in London, on Sunday. It was Djokovic's 24th straight win since losing to Nadal in the 2013 US Open final.

But after the Bozolzac/Zimonjic pair fell 2-6, 4-6, 6-7 (4) to the Berdych/Stepanek pair, the home fans imagined a scenario of empty-handedness right in Belgrade. And it was true. The reason: Djokovic's partner was so incompetent that all his efforts were wasted. Without Janko Tipsarevic (ranked 36th in ATP) due to an Achilles injury, while Viktor Troicki was suspended due to "forgetting" to take a doping test, captain Bogdan Obradovic had to call up a player outside the world's top 100: Dusan Lajovic (117), who has not won a single individual title and has only played 16 matches in his professional career with very bad results: 5 wins - 11 losses. Lajovic has never made it to the main draw of a Grand Slam.

Djokovic is so lonely

No one was surprised, then, when Lajovic lost both singles matches, despite the support of 17,000 home fans. On Saturday, he lost to Tomas Berdych, ranked 110 places above him, 3-6, 4-6, 3-6. And in the deciding match, with the score between Serbia and the Czech Republic at 2-2, class and experience helped Radek Stepanek win 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 after just 1 hour and 52 minutes. Lajovic was too nervous under the pressure of a big match, while this was the second consecutive time Stepanek won the deciding singles match. Last year, he also defeated Almagro in the deciding singles to help the Czech Republic win the title. Historically, only France's Henri Cochet (champion in 1927, 1929, 1931) and Fred Perry (1933, 1936) have won the fifth singles more than once, but they were unable to do so in two consecutive years like Stepanek.

“There are no words to describe my feelings,” Stepanek said when asked about his feelings after the victory. “Last year, we won the championship after 32 years of waiting, and now we are one of the five teams to successfully defend the title. Today, we made history.”

With this victory, the Czech Republic also became the first team to win the Davis Cup away from home since Spain defeated Argentina in Buenos Aires in 2008. This is also the first time an away team has won the championship with a victory in the 5th match, since Mario Ancic (Croatia) in 2005 in Slovakia.

The Czech Republic’s victory was all the more significant as they were without captain Jaroslav Navratil, who was hospitalised earlier this week with a pulmonary embolism, and was replaced by assistant Vladimir Safarik. “This victory belongs to Jaroslav. This was his year. He led the team to victory in Switzerland, Kazakhstan and Prague,” Safarik paid tribute to his colleague at the ceremony.

According to Thethaovanhoa.vn