Djokovic headlines first round of Davis Cup action

World No. 1 Andy Murray is on the sidelines this week, but second-ranked Novak Djokovic will be a part of the first-round Davis Cup festivities when Serbia hosts Russia. Djokovic is looking to bounce back from an early loss at the Australian Open to Denis Istomin.

“The Russians have a young and motivated team, therefore we have to take them very seriously,” Djokovic cautioned. “They are all in the top 100 (and) they can all play singles and doubles, so it’s not going to be easy by any means.

“I always try to take the best out of these Davis Cup weeks for my individual career because we don’t get too many chances to represent our country in a team competition. Coming back to the Davis Cup week is like coming home to a family and with that in mind, we will do our best to delight our home crowd who turned up in such great numbers for yesterday’s practice.”

Defending champion Argentina will kick off its title defense without Juan Martin Del Potro, but it will enjoy home-court advantage against Italy. In other ties, Japan is hosting France, Canada is entertaining Great Britain, and Switzerland–minus Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka–is visiting the United States.

Federer and Wawrinka, of course, are coming off extensive Australian Open campaigns. An all-Swiss semifinal showdown saw Federer prevail in five sets and the 35-year-old eventually captured the title by winning another five-set thriller over Rafael Nadal last Sunday. With its two leading veterans gone, Team Switzerland is an obvious underdog against John Isner, Jack Sock, and the rest of the American squad.

“We know all too well what can happen in Davis Cup,” USA captain Jim Courier assured. “The rankings are irrelevant; we have won as underdogs before and we lost as favorites. We have to go out and prove it on the court and that’s what we’re focused on now. I wish past results meant something but unfortunately we have to go out there and earn it. If past results had a bearing, we’d be winning the Davis Cup every year because we’ve won it more than any other nation. It’s been a decade since we won it, and we are certainly eager to try and get ourselves off on a good foot here in the first round.”

Swiss captain Severin Luthi, back from his success Melbourne with Federer, agreed that anything can happen.

“Anything in sport is possible, and especially in Davis Cup,” Luthi noted. “A lot of things are possible so we are going to try to do our maximum. I don’t think far ahead of a possible upset, we really have to take it match by match and in the matches play point by point. We’re not the favorites by far, and that’s why we shouldn’t think so much about that.”

Russia at Serbia

Russia: Karen Khachanov, Andrey Kuznetsov, Daniil Medvedev, Konstantin Kravchuk
Serbia: Novak Djokovic, Viktor Troicki, Dusan Lajovic, Nenad Zimonjic

Pick: Serbia 3, Russia 0

[polldaddy poll=9655219]

Italy at Argentina

Italy: Fabio Fognini, Paolo Lorenzi, Andreas Seppi, Simone Bolelli
Argentina: Guido Pella, Carlos Berlocq, Leonardo Mayer, Diego Schwartzman

Pick: Argentina 3, Italy 2

[polldaddy poll=9655218]

France at Japan

France: Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon, Nicolas Mahut, Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Japan: Yoshihito Nishioka, Taro Daniel, Yuichi Sugita, Yasutaka Uchiyama

Pick: France 3, Japan 0

Great Britain at Canada

Great Britain: Dan Evans, Kyle Edmund, Jamie Murray, Dominic Inglot
Canada: Vasek Pospisil, Denis Shapovalov, Daniel Nestor, Peter Polansky

Pick: Great Britain 3, Canada 2

[polldaddy poll=9655227]

Czech Republic at Australia

Czech Republic: Jiri Vesely, Jan Satral, Radek Stepanek, Zdenek Kolar
Australia: Nick Kyrgios, Jordan Thompson, Sam Groth, John Peers

Pick: Australia 3, Czech Republic 0

Switzerland at United States

Switzerland: Marco Chiudinelli, Henri Laaksonen,
United States: John Isner, Jack Sock, Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson

Pick: United States 3, Switzerland 0

Belgium at Germany

Belgium: Steve Darcis, Arthur De Greef, Ruben Bemelmans, Joris De Loore
Germany: Alexander Zverev, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Mischa Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff

Pick: Germany 3, Belgium 0

Spain at Croatia

Spain: Roberto Bautista Agut, Pablo Carreno Busta, Feliciano Lopez, Marc Lopez
Croatia: Ante Pavic, Franko Skugor, Nikola Mektic, Marin Draganja

Pick: Spain 3, Croatia 0