 "Novak Djokovic")
"We've seen a lot of people in this competition rise up.... The ball doesn't know what ranking is. The ball just knows where it goes. It was some incredible tennis." This was Jim Courier on the performance of Ilija Bozoljac (ranked 1150 in doubles) in the doubles quarter-final match between Serbia and USA in Davis Cup 2013.
The Davis Cup is the only competition in men's tennis played on a country basis. The Fed Cup is its counterpart on the women's side. This year the World Group final is being played between the Czech Republic and Serbia on hard court in Belgrade, November 15 through 17. The Czechs, the defending champions, are playing in the final for the third time in five years. The Serbs defeated the Czechs in 2010 in Belgrade.
The tournament was originally known as the International Lawn Tennis Challenge, but was later named after Dwight Davis, a leading tennis player who formulated a plan along with three others for the championship and also donated a silver trophy to the winning team. The first competition in 1900 was between USA and Britain, which the former won.
The first and third days are devoted to singles and reverse singles, respectively, while the second day is for the doubles. In the reverse singles those who played on the first day are swapped. The tie is won on a best of five matches. If three matches are won by a country, either by the second day or in the first match on the third day, the remaining 'dead rubber' is still played. In the world of tennis the doubles attracts crowds only in the Davis Cup. It has lost much of its sheen in the Grand Slam events for the simple reason that leading singles players no longer participate in them. Till about the 1980s singles champions like John McEnroe were playing doubles also and could win the trophies. One recent exception was the combination of Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka winning the doubles gold medal in 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The decline of doubles is due partly to lack of interest on the part of the audience and partly to the concept of specialisation as a singles or doubles player. Further the singles player would not like to dissipate his energy in doubles matches. In frustration once McEnroe suggested the scrapping of doubles from the Grand Slam tournaments!
Often the outcome of the Davis Cup has been influenced by the result in doubles. Last year the Czechs defeated Spain because of the combination of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek. This year the Czech team consists of Berdych, Stepanek, Jan Hajek and Lukas Rosol. The Serbs are Novak Djokovic, Nenad Zimonjic and Bozoljac. The last two are doubles specialists. They defeated the formidable Bryan brothers of USA in the quarter-finals when all the sets were extended. The match took four hours and 23 minutes and had the longest fifth set in terms of games in Davis Cup history.
By the time the article appears, the first day's singles matches would have been completed. Like it was last year, this time too the Davis Cup title is likely to go to that nation that wins the doubles match on the second day. It's worthwhile to remember Djokovic has been consistently winning in recent times. On the way to last year's Davis Cup victory, the Czechs beat Serbia 4-1 in the quarterfinals in Prague. Berdych and Djokovic figured in the eight best players selected for the recent Barclays ATP World Tour Final in London.
In the Davis Cup rankings of 131 (some shared by two countries) the Czech Republic ranks No.1 (34393.75 points) followed by Serbia (25823.44 points). India with a distinguished record in the distant past is ranked 37 (810.00 points) below such newcomers as Kazakhstan (8), Croatia (13), Uzbekistan (22) and Ecuador (27).
