Novak Djokovic and Hamad Medjedovic beat the pair of Petros Tsitsipas and Aristotelis Thanos 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 yesterday as Serbia cruised past Greece 3-0 on aggregate to stay in the Davis Cup World Group.
Compared to the first day’s matches which were boring, without stakes and with a sky-to-earth difference between the opponents, this time the combatants crossed their rackets and fought until exhaustion. The public tasted the quality of the game, the tension and especially the technical-tactical fireworks displayed by King of Serbia. Colleague and partner Hamad was no less. Very young and still inexperienced (only 21 years old), Medjedovic caught and took power from Djokovic.
Breathing the same air, in the same half of the arena as Nole, he couldn’t help but be just as powerful. Nole gives you extraordinary energy and strength. I confess that I wish I had been in the place of the ball kids in the 4 corners of the court when Novak was walking towards them and asking them with gesticulating hands and shouting to give him the balls as fast as possible, in this way so that between well-placed serves, opponents do not have time to regroup.
How will the lives of these 8-9-year-old children be from last night, who will be permanently marked that they were in the team, for a few moments of the 2 hours or so of the match, with the greatest player in history and with the symbol of their country, Serbia??
The Greeks played very well in doubles, they were specialized in sitting at the net and responding like volleys from the jump and direct volleys into winning points. I don’t know how many times they have driven Djokovic to despair with this style. All the options that the Serbian champion tried, to send over the net and to the opponents, were annihilated by this style. He screamed in frustration, got down on his knees, looked blankly at his bench and hit the racket in a ball on the floor so hard that it flew up to the ceiling and on the way back would have landed on my head if I hadn’t be safe I don’t think I would have been upset. A ball hit by Djokovic can only be an honor.
It was everywhere. He served 13 aces, returned simple, and complicated with dives and splits. He flies from side to side for points and for victory. A shot caught by the Greeks as if from a cannon ricocheted off the field directly into the stands and almost touched the wall and a spectator caught it with his hand. Exactly at the last fraction of a second, he appeared and, on his back, managed the phase of the entire tournament by putting the ball back into play. Finally, after a rollercoaster, the point went to Greece, but the beauty, determination and dedication with which he fought, made the 5000 people present in the Aleksandar Nikolic hall stand up and chant as long as they could “Nole”, “Nole” “, ” Nole “.
The Greeks led 3-0 in the first set, then they were tied and could not stop the roll. 6-3. The second set was balanced, spectacular, with twists and turns and decided by the guests. 3-6. In the decider, I was hoping that the Serbs would lose so that Djokovic could play one more singles match and thus enjoy seeing him on the court again.
It wasn’t meant to be. Novak was probably feeding on the hatred of the defeat in last year’s final in Malaga (in which I also took part) against Italy and threw himself at the poor Greeks with all the technical-tactical arsenal he possesses and which he acquired in the 20 years of high level tennis. 6-3.
This article is supported by the Romanian organic juice brand Melissimo.
We thank Mr. Ilie Potecaru
Source: www.cotidianul.ro
