Djokovic Suffers First Loss At ATP Cup, Serbia Eliminated; Nadal Not Playing Again

by Staff | February 5th, 2021, 3:17 pm
  • 3 Comments

Novak Djokovic and team Serbia were eliminated from the ATP Cup Friday in Melbourne. The defending champions failed to make the semifinals after losing a tight contest to Germany 2-1.

Djokovic beat Alexander Zverev in the singles 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-5 to level the tie at 1-all after Jan-Lennard Struff had beaten Dusan Lajovic.

Partnering with unheralded Nikola Cacic, Djokovic’s 11-match win streak in single and doubles came to an and as Zverev/Stuff took the decider 7-6(4), 5-7, 10-7 to send Germany into the semifinals against Russia.


“I think we played maybe a little bit more aggressive. In the end, we maybe took a few more shots, but it was so tight it could have gone both ways,” said Alexander Zverev. “At the end of the day, when you win the doubles decider 10-7 in the third set there’s not much between the two. We’re just super happy right now.”

Djokovic suffered his first loss at the event.

“I thought we both played well,” Djokovic told the crowd. “He definitely had a big serving match. It was so difficult to play against him today. Missiles from the other side of the court, both first and second serve. He was going for it, not too many double faults. You’ve got to give him credit for being courageous and trying his best… Overall it was a very enjoyable match.”

Zverev and team Germany will now set their sets on a powerful Russian team led by Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev.

“Obviously, great team. Daniil Medvedev great shape. Rublev very good shape. But we too are also in good shape, so going to be very interesting, intense tie and I hope we can beat them,” said Germany team captain Mischa Zverev.

Spain needed one win against Greece to advance to the semifinals and they got it after Pablo Carreno Busta beat Michail Pervolarakis 6-3, 6-4. Greece took the next two ties for a 2-1 win, but Spain now goes through to face Italy.

“I knew that we needed this point. With this victory, we are into the semi-finals, so it was very important to us,” Carreno Busta said.

Spain, though, is not scheduled to play Rafael Nadal who is still ailing with a lower back injury. That leaves Roberto Bautista Agut to face Matteo Berrettini followed by Carreno Busta against Fabio Fognini.

Italians are doing well at the ATP Melbourne 1 Great Ocean Road, Jannik Sinner will take on Karen Khananov in one semifinal and Stefano Travaglia tests Thiago Monteiro in the other.

In the Melbourne 2 Murray River Open semis, Jeremy Chardy duels Dan Evans and then Felix Auger-Aliassime battles Corentin Moutet. Chardy earned a walkover from Stan Wawrinka who withdrew. Moutet upset Grigor Dimitrov while Auger-Aliassime saved a match point in a third round win over Gerasimov as players at both 250s were required to play two matches on a busy Friday.


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3 Comments for Djokovic Suffers First Loss At ATP Cup, Serbia Eliminated; Nadal Not Playing Again

chrisford1 Says:

Tough when you are a small country to compete against the “Big Boys” in team play, even when you have a superstar. The big tennis nations just have more depth than nations like Serbia, most years.
(Except the USA, which is in a 2 decade long tennis funk on the men’s side)


Wog Boy Says:

Actually I don’t mind Serbia lost, they won inaugural ATP Cup last year when it 24 teams competition, not short version of 12 teams this year.
Nole had two high quality matches against Shapovalov and Zverev and didn’t need third Russian (Medvedev) to slug it out today, just two days before AO start and with possibility for even fourth match in the final.

Medvedev and Zverev are doing excatly that right now, on serve in the third set, I think Russia is winning ATP Cup this year, they have super team. Question is how good is that for Medvedev (or Zeverev if Germany wins) considering they will continue on Monday in the best of five and that after 3-4 matches in a row against top world players in ATP Cup?!

Rafa was listed and ready to play for Spain but smartly decided not to play.


Dave Says:

Wogboy,

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Zverev won’t be 100% for The Australian Open. And neither will Medvedev. It just makes things easier for Djokovic and Nadal. If Medvedev gets to the final and Djokovic is there, Medvedev will have nothing left in the tank to challenge Djokovic. For Djokovic the main threats for him are Wawrinka and Thiem. No one on the other side of the draw scares me. Tsitsipas would probably have the best chance on the other side to beat Djokovic. And I couldn’t even see that happening.

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