In events like the Olympics and the World Cup, you have to wait four years in order to get another shot at glory.
Serbia had to wait all of two months.
Bouncing back from 2019 Davis Cup heartbreak this past November, Novak Djokovic and Team Serbia triumphed at the inaugural ATP Cup in Sydney on Sunday night. Djokovic kept his team alive with a 6-2, 7-6(4) defeat of Rafael Nadal before partnering Viktor Troicki to beat Feliciano Lopez and Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-4 in a decisive doubles rubber.
“I’ll remember this experience for the rest of my life as definitely one of the nicest moments in my career,” Djokovic said. “I’ve been very fortunate and blessed to have an amazing career the last 15 years, but playing for the team, playing for the country with some of my best friends for a long long time, you can’t match that. That’s just too special.”
It was especially sweet for the Serbian side after it exited the recent Davis Cup Finals during quarterfinal action. In that tie against Russia, Djokovic and Troicki lost the deciding doubles rubber 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(8) to Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev.
“I want to thank Novak for playing with me again,” Troicki declared. “It was a great experience like always. I remember playing with him since we were nine (or) 10. To share such a moment on the court with him, I cannot describe it with words. As [he] said, I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”
For Spain, Nadal had played the closer role throughout this fortnight. Roberto Bautista Agut went 6-0 at the ATP, constantly putting his nation in position to win without even requiring the doubles point. The world No. 10 was up to his usual tricks on Sunday, this time beating Dusan Lajovic 7-5, 6-1. Nadal, however, was unable to seal the deal against Djokovic.
Citing fatigue, the world No. 1 did not come back out for doubles.
“I have been playing a lot of tennis the last couple of days,” explained Nadal. “My teammates have been playing great yesterday. My level of energy is a little bit lower than usual, because I played long yesterday, very long before yesterday, very long in [Perth] the last day.
“So it’s a team decision, and we believe in our team. That’s why we had success in the past, because we were able to give the confidence to the rest of the players, and we give the confidence to Feliciano and Pablo.”
Against an inspired Serbian squad, Felciano and Pablo were not enough.
congrats, Serbia
👎
what a classy comment a dull lover.
what a classy comment _from_ a dull lover.
Amazing Serbia, and amazing Nole. Well deserved! Onto winning the Australian open!
Novak deserves a big “Congrats”…..a true champion.
Novak just smoked dull and then played doubles. Dull couldn’t afford to lose for the 2nd time from Novak so he folded the doubles. What a warrior!