Beating Nadal on clay the hardest thing in the history of tennisIf anyone had doubts, Rafael Nadal confirmed at the Monte Carlo Masters what already should have been obvious. He is more dominant on clay than any male player on any surface - ever.
How could you look at his path of destruction last week and draw any other conclusion? His jaw-dropping set scores read 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, 6-0, 6-1. He lost 14 games in 10 sets, the fewest for anyone in the open era.
Before Monte Carlo, the story on Nadal was his 11-month title drought dating back to the Italian Open in 2009. With that stat in his rearview mirror, the next time the number 11 becomes significant for him might be when he wins Monte Carlo for the 11th year in a row. He already is up to six, another open-era record, and has lost one set there in the last three visits.
His victims this year - including fellow Spaniards Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarters, David Ferrer in the semis and Fernando Verdasco in the final - hardly constituted a murderer's row. But they should not have been road kill, either.
A resurgent Ferrero won two tournaments and reached the final of a third on the South American clay-court swing earlier this year. Ferrer has won five career titles on clay. Verdasco was coming off a 6-2, 6-2 semifinal demolition of Novak Djokovic, who had won 37 of his last 39 matches on clay when Rafa was not the opponent. Djokovic blamed allergies for his tepid performance, but he may have been allergic to another beat-down by Nadal.
The numbers are mind-numbing. Nadal won 81 consecutive matches on clay from 2005 to 2007, shattering Guillermo Vilas' tour record of 53. After losing to Roger Federer in the final of Hamburg, he immediately snapped off another 31-match streak.
Before losing to Robin Soderling last year, he had won his first 31 matches at Roland Garros while dropping only seven sets.
At age 23, he has won 26 clay-court titles - the seventh most all-time - and 23 of the last 27 clay events he has entered.
Never has there been this perfect a marriage between skill set and surface. Nadal's relentless intensity, his incredible speed and his unprecedented high-bouncing forehand topspin make him impossible to beat on clay when he is playing well and nearly impenetrable when his game is off.
The obvious reply to Nadal's clay-court brilliance is the grass-court supremacy of Federer, who won an ATP-record 65 consecutive matches on the blades from 2003 to 2008, but it's not the same.
Federer played Wimbledon five times before becoming champion. His last two Wimbledon-final victories have gone five sets, and he failed to break serve 37 consecutive times before winning his epic final with Roddick last year.
Plus, there's the sticky issue of whether Federer is even better than Nadal on grass right now. Nadal ended Federer's aura of invincibility in the 2008 Wimbledon final after having break points in the fifth set of their 2007 final before fading at least in part due to a knee injury.
Nadal also won Queen's Club on grass in 2008, taking down Roddick and Djokovic in straight sets in the semis and final. After skipping the grass in 2009 with another knee injury, he will enter Queen's Club this June with an 18-1 record in his last 19 matches on the surface - the same as Federer.
If Federer's dominance on grass falls short of Nadal's nastiness on clay, no one else compares.
Pete Sampras on grass? He won Wimbledon seven out of eight years from 1993 to 2000, but he lost at Queen's Club five times in that span to the likes of Grant Stafford, Jonas Bjorkman and Mark Woodforde. The difference between him and Nadal is Rafa's all-consuming desire at every clay-court event.
Bjorn Borg on clay? He won Roland Garros six of the eight times he played there, and his scorelines in 1978 and 1980 were Rafa-like, but he won five five-setters in Paris. Nadal has yet to play a five-setter there.
When Nadal burst on the scene, he intimidated his opponents on clay with his endurance and persistence, getting every ball back until their will to win crumbled. These days, he blasts one forehand winner after the other without sacrificing any of the defensive abilities he had as a teenager.
Heaven help the rest of the tour if he stays healthy all spring.
Copyright (c) 2009 Clarity Digital Group LLC
No light at end of tunnel for Paksitan tennis
Countries across the world attach great importance to Davis Cup which is the true yardstick of judging one's performance in tennis.
They prepare round the year to achieve the desired results. However, it is not so in Pakistan.
A short camp and a few low budgeted domestic tournaments are all that comprise Pakistan team's preparations for the Davis Cup contests which are mostly set on foreign soil.
Needless to say, the domestic competitions are either one-sided affairs or marred by walkovers and could hardly be seen as any kind of preparation for such high-level contests.
Despite the bleak scenario, however, people at the helm of affairs always appear satisfied with the 'progress' and keep getting extensions in their term of office. They are well aware that the base of the game has shrunk and is confined to a handful of players in three cities Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Yet, no measures are in place to widen the tennis base or groom the younger lot.
The country's two ace players Aisam-ul-Haq and Aqeel Khan, who are in their early thirties and have carried the game to new heights with victories in World Group playoff in 2005 besides some other, have little tennis left in them.
There's a vast difference between these two and the second tier. The second tier includes Heera Ashiq, Faizan Khurram, Waqas Malik, Sadan-ul-Haq, Adil Kohari, Nameer Shamsi and Ahmed Babar who, if given a chance, cannot even win a group III rubber, let alone the Davis Cup ties.
However, it was not always like this in Pakistan Tennis. There used to be a fierce competition to don Pakistan colour in the past. Saeed Meer, Munawwar Iqbal, Meer Mohammad, Ismail Majeed, Nadir Ali Khan, Nasir Munir, Jamil Ahmed, Altaf Hussain, Rashid Malik, Islam-ul-Haq, Hameed-ul-Haq, Inam-ul-Haq, M. Khalid, M. Khaliq, Mushaf Zia, Haseeb Aslam, to name a few, were players of repute who brought laurels to the nation including the 1974 Tehran Games and the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games as well as the first Islamic Games held in Izmir, Turkey, in 1980.
"The PTF should make amendment in its constitution to accommodate a players' representative in the body to discuss their problems," Aqeel told Dawn on Thursday.
He was critical that today a player gets just Rs400 daily during the course of a ranking tournament which is the same as two decades ago. "The purse is also meager, considering the inflation," he remarked.
On the other hand, the tennis fraternity alleged that the PTF Complex in Islamabad is a white elephant whose doors are closed for poor players. PTF's lady council member Shahida Kauser Farooq, who is one of the aspirants for PTF top slot, is working hard for uplift of the game in a quietly-dedicated way.
She helped built the PTF Complex boundary wall worth seven to eight million rupees with the collaboration of CDA and donated mattresses for the comfortable stay of players in addition to carrying out plantation in the entire premises.
It is an irony then that the complex is named after Syed Dilawar Abbas since the council approved his name for the honour while he was also allowed to hold two posts simultaneously - that of president PTF and the Patron-in-Chief. Such things have never happened in the history of the game and are reflecting poorly on Pakistan Tennis.
The writing is very much on the wall and days are not far when Pakistan will be relegated to Group III or even Group IV once Aisam and Aqeel bid adieu to the game.
Pakistan's performance in Davis Cup during last eight years at a glance
2010: - March 5 to 7: Pakistan bt Hong Kong China 3-1 in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group II in Hong Kong. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Yasir Khan. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)
2009: - March 6 to 8: Pakistan bt Oman 4-1 in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group II in Muscat. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Yasir Khan. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)
- July 10 to 12: Pakistan lost 2-3 to Philippines in the second round of Asia Oceania Zone Group II in Manila to retain its place in 2010. (Team: Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Jibran Mohammadi, Yasir Khan. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)
2008: - April 9 to 13: Pakistan bt Malaysia 3-0 in the final of Asia Oceania Zone Davis Cup Group III in Tehran to earn promotion in grade II in 2009. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Jibran Mohammadi. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)
2007: - Feb 9 to 11: Pakistan lost 1-4 to Philippines in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Davis Cup Group II in Manila. (Team: Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Asim Shafik, Yasir Khan. Hameed-ul-Haq non-playing captain)
- April 6 to 8: Pakistan lost 2-3 to Pacific Oceania in playoff in Pacific Oceania to relegate to Group III in 2008 for the first time ever. (Team: Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Shahzad Khan. Hameed-ul-Haq playing captain)
2006: - Feb 10 to 12: Pakistan lost 2-3 to Chinese Taipei in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group I in Chinese Taipei. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Jalil Khan. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)
- April 7 to 9: Pakistan lost 2-3 to India in playoff in Mumbai. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Jalil Khan. Rashid Malik non- playing captain)
- Sept 22 to 24: Pakistan lost 0-5 to China in the second round playoff in Beijing to relegate to group II in 2007. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)
2005: - March 4 to 6: Pak bt Thailand 3-2 in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group I in Lahore. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Shahzad Khan, Asim Shafik. M. Khalid non-playing captain)
- April 29 to May 1: Pakistan bt Chinese Taipei 4-1 in the second round in Lahore. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Shahzad, Asim Shafik. M. Khalid non-playing captain)
- Sept 23 to 25: Pakistan lost 0-5 to Chile in World Group Playoff in Chile. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Shahzad Khan, Asim Shafik. M. Khalid non-playing captain)
2004: - Feb 6 to 8: Pakistan lost 0-5 to Thailand in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group I in Bangkok. (Team: Aqeel Khan, Nomi Qamar and Jalil Khan. Inam-ul-Haq playing captain)
- April 9 to 11: Pakistan lost 0-5 to Chinese Taipei in the first round playoff in Chinese Taipei. (Team: Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Jalil Khan, Shahzad Khan. Inam-ul-Haq non-playing captain)
- Sept 24 to 26. Pakistan bt New Zealand 3-2 in the second round playoff in Islamabad to stay in group I in 2005. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)
2003: - Feb 7 to 9: Pakistan lost 0-5 to New Zealand in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group I in Hamilton. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. M. Khalid non-playing captain)
- April 4 to 6: Pakistan lost 0-5 to Japan in Toyota in the first round playoff. (Team: Aqeel Khan, Shahzad Khan, Shahzad Samad Khan and Inam Gul. M. Khalid non-playing captain)
- Sept 19 to 21: Pakistan bt South Korea 3-2 in Lahore in second round playoff to stay in group I in 2004. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Nomi Qamar. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)
2002: - Feb 8 to 10: Pakistan bt Malaysia 4-1 in the quarter-final of Asia Oceania Zone Group II in Kuala Lumpur. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. Saeed Hai non-playing captain)
- April 5 to 7: Pakistan bt Chinese Taipei 4-1 in the semi-final in Lahore. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)
- Sept 20 to 22: Pakistan by China 3-2 in the final in Peshawar to advance into group I. (Team: Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)
(c)2010 DAWN Media Group
SIX YEARS AGO SUNDAY, RODDICK WINS FIRST KEY BISCAYNE TITLEAndy Roddick plays for the Sony Ericsson Open men's singles title Sunday in Key Biscayne, taking on Thomas Berdych of the Czech Republic. The final will be played six years to the day when Roddick won his one and only previous title in Key Biscayne, as documented below from my book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY.
2004 -- Andy Roddick wins the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami when his final round opponent, Guillermo Coria of Argentina, retires due to back pain with Roddick leading 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-1. Coria's ailment is later diagnosed as kidney stones. Says Coria through a translator following the match, "I felt burned out and very sad after all that I had to go through this week. I was hoping that the pain was going to go away, but I knew after a certain point that it was not going to go away. I believe I should have retired after the first set, but nobody wants to retire in a final with all the people that paid the money to come see me play. I knew that I probably couldn't go through."
The Sony Ericsson Open has always been a special tournament for Roddick. In 2000 as a 17-year-old, he won his career match on the ATP Tour, defeating Fernando Vicente of Spain 6-4, 6-0 in the first round, before falling to world No. 1 Andre Agassi in the second round 6-2, 6-3.
One year later, Roddick, ranked No. 119, started the changing of the guard in American tennis, as he upset Pete Sampras 7-6 (2), 6-3 in the third round. Roddick's victory is his first over a player ranked in the top 10 and marked the first time Sampras lost to a player outside the Top 100 since losing to No. 205 Karim Alami in the first round of Doha, Qatar in January 1994.
worldtennismagazine.com
Rochus wins one for the little guys
Little guys can win at tennis. Just ask Olivier Rochus. The diminutive Belgian has been pounding around the ATP tour for 10 years proving that someone all of 5-foot-6 can compete against the behemoths that are invading the game, and today he pulled off the best win of his career when he took out No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic, beating the Serb in a brilliantly played encounter 6-2, 6-7, 6-4.
No question that Rochus deserved this victory. Djokovic was decent enough to say so himself: "He was playing really well today and I want to congratulate him. He deserved it."
Rochus won because he maintained a positive attitude, even after missing chances to close it out in two sets. He had the Serb down 0-40 on his serve at 3-3 in the second set and missed a fourth break point when Djokovic came up with one of his better points - a deep off-forehand winner. But in the previous game, in which the Belgian lost his early break, he ended a truly spectacular rally on game point by putting a forehand fractionally wide. Sixteen times the ball crossed the net and on at least six occasions, the ball either hit the line or dropped inches inside the apex of the court.
Rochus has long been known as one of the cleanest hitters of a tennis ball on the tour. He exhibits a classic one-handed backhand and wins points through timing and technique. He talked about being able to move Djokovic around with his forehand but on three occasions he cut short a long rally by turning the wrist and sending a bullet of a backhand straight up the line for a winner. You have to be good to pull that off against someone like Djokovic.
As for the Serb, we have not seen the best of him since he bore the brunt of the pressure in that Davis Cup tie against the United States in Belgrade four weeks ago. It was windy and humid here - conditions that seemed to affect him more than his opponent. Frequently forehands flew long for no apparent reason and he never served well.
"It's obvious I don't feel great on court," he said. "Everybody could see that. Life goes on, you know. I've gotta rest now and try to make up for these defeats on clay courts."
Rochus admitted that his years of experience on the tour probably took him through to what he called one of his best victories.
"I stayed positive and that's why I won the match. Because after the loss of the second set, if I would have been down mentally, I would never have had the chance to win. But I just said 'enjoy it, just play. Don't think about this too much.'"
In the end he reduced Djokovic to attempting backhand drop shots at inappropriate moments and netting most of them. The way Rochus reached one that did clear the net and then back pedaled to put away a great smash re-affirmed what we all know - great athletes come in all shapes and sizes, and the game of tennis can accommodate them all.
Some bigger players were blown away by the Florida winds on a rain-interrupted day and, unfortunately many of them were Americans. Sam Querrey got a set start against the wiry Frenchman Jeremy Chardy but then allowed his opponent to dictate play and went down 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
"I don't know what it is about this place," Querrey grumbled afterwards. "I can't play here. It's too windy. I should have gone for my forehand instead of pushing it."
James Blake had a similar story to tell as he went down 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to the 27th ranked Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci. Too many wayward shots in the wind against a man who had plenty of South American support.
Both Querrey and Blake felt they should have won their matches. Not so Taylor Dent who faced Rafael Nadal on the Stadium Court. Dent would have been hoping he could serve well enough to keep Nadal at bay but it was not to be. The Spaniard handled the Californian's big delivery well enough to go through 6-4, 6-3.
(c)2010 Fox Sports Interactive Media, LLC
Davis Cup debacle with be a blemish on my career in tennisBritain's shameful Davis Cup defeat by Lithuania could easily have been avoided had world No 3 Andy Murray played in Vilnius rather than be excused from international duty by the Lawn Tennis Association's own management.
And yesterday John Lloyd, who relinquished his job as Great Britain captain in the aftermath of that humiliating setback, said: 'Call me old-fashioned, but when is it a convenience, and not a privilege, to play for your country?'
Lloyd is in no doubt as to the scale of the debacle when British tennis, funded by the GBP25million raised every year at Wimbledon, proved incapable of finding four men able to win a tie against a nation bereft of money, players and history.
'It will be a blemish on my career in tennis to end my time with the Davis Cup team in this manner,' said Lloyd, after a disingenuous investigation into the health of British tennis was ordered by the LTA.
But many will feel that allowing Murray's absence from the tie was unforgivable. Lloyd insists he is not bitter over the LTA's decision, only perplexed at how the Davis Cup, a once-great competition that offered players a unique opportunity to play for their country rather than themselves, has become so devalued by official approval.
Lloyd said: 'I know Roger Federer, and other top players, pick and choose when to play in the Davis Cup. But does that make it right?
'If England's football team had failed to qualify for the World Cup, would it be OK for Wayne Rooney to turn round and say that he didn't think he'd bother playing for the
international team until they had some proper matches, or a team worthy of his time? Of course not.
'When did it come about that someone only played for their country when they had a good team? Yet the public seem to have accepted Andy should be playing only when
the team are in the upper echelons of the competition.
'The reality is that the only way for Britain to get back to the World Group of the Davis Cup is with him in the team.
'With Andy pretty much assured of winning two matches against any other country, out of the five rubbers played over a Davis Cup tie, it's possible, of course, to get back to the top. The question is: how much do we want that to happen?'
The decision to excuse Britain's best tennis player from Davis Cup duty has thrown a critical spotlight on the LTA regime of chief executive, Roger Draper.
In January, Murray had said: 'I am happy to step aside for this match (against Lithuania) and will take decisions on (playing in) future ties with the LTA.'
Sitting in his office at the GBP40m National Tennis Centre, Draper could be imagined nodding in silent approval.
After all, only Murray's success in the grand theatres of tennis, in Wimbledon, New York, Paris and Melbourne, can mask the overall failure of Draper's four years in charge of a moribund organisation over-populated with foreign coaches and scientists and under-populated by players anywhere near breaking into the men's top 100 in the world.
Lloyd, who appeared for Britain when Paul Hutchins captained the team in the 1978 Davis Cup final, believes the rich history of the competition is second only in stature to the Grand Slam championships.
'Winning a tournament in Rhode Island or Hamburg may provide a player with a good pay cheque but no one is going to remember him for that,' said Lloyd.
'Ask John McEnroe or Bjorn Borg if they care more about their records in the Grand Slams and Davis Cup above all else and they'll answer in one word, "Yes".'
Last autumn, Murray played through pain caused by an injury to his wrist but Britain still lost at home against Poland as the Poles boasted a world-class doubles team.
As a consequence, Murray was sidelined for several weeks and the LTA arrived at an agreement with the British No 1 to miss the match in Lithuania.
But, from a 2-1 lead in Vilnius, James Ward and Dan Evans - both ranked outside the world's top 200 - could not handle the burden of the final two singles rubbers
and Lithuania exposed the soft underbelly of British tennis.
So what now will change? Murray has an uneasy relationship with Greg Rusedski, perhaps threatening his desire to succeed Lloyd. Two other LTA coaches, Leon Smith, mentor to Murray in his teenage years, and Colin Beecher, could come into consideration.
In any event, Draper is unlikely to insist on Murray, who will defend his Masters title in Florida this week after losing 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) to Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals in Indian Wells, making a commitment to the Davis Cup, even though the LTA met the GBP750,000 annual salary required to hire Brad Gilbert to coach him towards the summit of the game.
For Lloyd, 55, the matter is now academic. 'After the loss to Poland, I talked of rebuilding the team," he said.
'In Lithuania, we came close to winning before Dan Evans lost a five-setter in the final match. I'm sure whoever takes over as captain will put out a team good enough to beat Turkey in the week after Wimbledon and keep Britain at least in the Europe/Africa Group Two.
'I never had responsibility for finding or coaching the players that I selected from. I saw them for only four days before the tie and it was my job to prepare them professionally and to create a strong team spirit. I believe I did that,' he added.
'Some criticised me for continuing to live in Los Angeles but if you have a contract for just 12 weeks a year, it doesn't matter if you live in Tipton or Tijuana. Perhaps, lessons can be learned from the success Nigel Sears has had with the British women, as he is with them for 30 or more weeks a year.
Frankly, it is disappointing after all these years that the system still hasn't produced any men ranked inside the top 100.'
Last week, LTA player director Steve Martens was asked by Draper to review Britain's performance in Lithuania. After Lloyd accepted his fate, leaving his role on his terms on Wednesday night, Martens said: 'My initial findings recognised he is not to blame for the current lack of depth in the men's game, so I am widening my review to look across men's tennis.'
If he was to be taken seriously, his searchlight would not need to travel beyond the executive offices at the National Tennis Centre.
(c) Associated Newspapers Ltd
WHAT IF THE THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINAL WAS TODAY??!!How would you feel - and how would the tennis world be better or worse - if the finals of the Australian Open were played today? Well that was the case 39 years ago when the men's and women's singles finals at the 1971 Australian Open were played in Sydney. The following is the excerpt from the March 14 chapter of the book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY.
1971 - Margaret Court and Ken Rosewall win singles titles at the Australian Open at White City in Sydney, Australia. Court defeats first-time major finalist and fellow Australian Evonne Goolagong 2-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 to win her country's national championship for the 10th time in the last 12 years. Goolagong leads 5-2 in the final set, before she is beset with cramping in her leg. Says Court of the final-set deficit, "I thought I'd had it. I don't think I played particularly well, but when Evonne got the cramp, I took advantage." Court's title is her sixth straight major singles title on the heels of her 1970 Grand Slam sweep of all four majors. Rosewall defeats defending champion Arthur Ashe 6-1, 7-5, 6-3, benefiting from 13 Ashe double-faults. Ashe hits four double-faults alone in the sixth game of the match as Rosewall wins the first set in just 19 minutes. Says Rosewall, "I think Arthur lost confidence when his service was not going too well."
worldtennismagazine.com
Serbia looks to develop its tennis history
It's a very small nation, but the Balkan country of Serbia is celebrating loudly after beating USA 3-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas for the very first time.
To achieve such a result over a nation that has won the trophy 32 times just adds to the pride that has been felt in Belgrade and around Serbia.
This was a first time meeting between the two countries and the venue, the 20,000 seat Beogradska Arena, created an atmosphere that was very special and one that is all but unique to Davis Cup.
"Of course I am very excited and also to be winning our first round tie for the first time," Serbian captain Bogdan Obradovic said.
"We are in the quarterfinals and we are ready for the Croats. I want first to congratulate my team and all my squad because we play very good tennis in the last three days."
Although the final score against USA read 3-2 in Serbia's favour, the tie was decided in the first reverse singles when Novak Djokovic defeated John Isner, winning the match 75 36 63 67 64 on his sixth match point and after 4 hours, 16 minutes on court.
"Every match you win for your country, play for your country, is a very special one," Djokovic said.
"That's how I am accepting it and every time I play for my country I am very excited about it because this is the only team competition we are able to participate in.
"When you have this opportunity to play for your country and feel the team spirit, it's something you cannot describe with words."
The victory is a monumental one for the country as it works on creating a new legacy and developing a history for tennis in Serbia.
There are quite a few juniors that are starting to make a breakthrough and with that, such a result will be vitally important. It is something that will instil in the youngsters of the nation even more pride and motivation.
"I am happy all my players want to play Davis Cup and I expect a lot from them as well," Obradovic said.
In the quarterfinals, Serbia will travel to neighbouring Croatia, which will be another difficult task. Both sides know the respective players very, very well and there will be no secrets out there. It will make for an incredibly close contest.
That tie will be straight after Wimbledon in July and Obradovic says that he has already started some dialogue with his team.
"We will have and need a huge team to travel there so there is much to be organised," the Serbian captain said.
"It will be tough but all my players are ready. We will see what surface they choose but I just want my players to play good and I will travel with them to some tournaments before as we make a plan to prepare for Davis Cup."
Djokovic added that the guys in his team will take it one tournament at a time leading up to the quarters, so they can be fresh for the tie in an effort to put up their best showing.
Patrick McEnroe had the final word as a neutral observer. "Serbia is a versatile team that can play well on all surfaces. Obviously the home team has a bit of an advantage, but I think Serbia has a good chance in that match," the American captain predicted.
(c) ITF Licensing (UK) Ltd
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