Davis Cup: National treasure

Malaga, November 24

Novak Djokovic became the outright most successful Serbian player in the history of the Davis Cup as he took his nation to the semifinals for the second time in three years with his 21st straight singles victory on Thursday.

The top-ranked Djokovic beat Cameron Norrie 6-4 6-4 to give Serbia a 2-0 victory over Great Britain and set up a last-four encounter with Jannik Sinner’s Italy tomorrow.

“Playing for your country is always the greatest pressure and motivation,” Djokovic said. “After a long season, we can feel it in the legs. Now we play Italy. They are a very strong nation. We are going to fight and leave it all out on the court.”

It was a record 44th Davis Cup match win overall for Djokovic, moving him one ahead of Nenad Zimonjic. Djokovic now has 40 singles wins for his country.

The Italians beat Netherlands 2-1 in the other quarterfinals match on Thursday to reach the semifinals for the second straight season.

Djokovic’s last singles loss in the Davis Cup was when he retired against Juan Martin del Potro in Serbia’s 2011 semifinals defeat to Argentina. His last loss in a completed singles match in the Davis Cup was in 2009. — AP

44It was a record 44th Davis Cup match win overall for Djokovic, moving him one ahead of Nenad Zimonjic. Djokovic now has 40 singles wins for his country

Djokovic heckled during win

Malaga: Novak Djokovic accused British fans of disrespect during Serbia’s quarterfinals victory. The 24-time Grand Slam winner said some fans had tried to annoy him during his straight-set win over Cameron Norrie and snapped at them when they drummed loudly during his post-match interview, telling them to shut up. “That’s disrespect but that’s something you have to be prepared for in a Davis Cup,” he later said. “It’s normal that sometimes fans step over the line. In the heat of the moment sometimes you react too and you ... show that you don’t allow this kind of behaviour. They can do whatever they want but I’m going to respond to that. They were trying to annoy me the entire match, so we had a little bit of a chat in the end.” reuters

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