Serbia Claims The First Davis Cup
Serbian team celebrating the Davis Cup victory
Troicki should change his first name into ‘Viktory’. Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki denied France’s 2-1 lead on Sunday to win the Davis Cup trophy for the first time in history. Third ATP Djokovic won the first mach in the last day to send the confrontation into the big final in Belgrade. He beat Gael Monfils in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 to raise Serbia’s hopes for the last meeting where Troicki would play Michael Llodra. Pushed from behind by an electrifying home-crowd, Troicki had a tremendous start, claiming the opening 6-2. Llodra won the first game of the first set, but conceded five in a row as Troicki broke him twice in the third and fifth game.
The second set started as promising as the first one for the Frenchman, but finished in the same manner. Not only did he win his first service, but also broke the Serb to make it 2-0. Just seconds later, Troicki would shape a clear win over Llodra as he broke the French shortly after the French went two games ahead. Winning his next service, the Serb could level the score in the fourth game, which he did. Llondra wouldn’t claim any game until the end of the set as Troicki broke him twice on the way. The scoreboard displayed 6-2, 6-2 to the Serb who maintained the same pace throughout the third set. As for Llondra, he looked the same.
Going 2-0 after breaking the French in the first game, Troicki propelled through another break into the fifth game as Llodra could only ask himself many questions. His only reply was a re-break, but one which didn’t look too dangerous for Troicki who was getting closer to his biggest victory in career. He ‘let’ the French claim the next game on his service, but then he would serve for 5-3 to claim the championship game, set and match with another break, his seventh of the meeting.
Said Troicki, who couldn’t believe his eyes what himself achieved. “I’m in shock, after the last shot I couldn’t believe this happened. I think for the next few days I’ll still feel a little bit different. Maybe in five days I’ll feel the real feeling of winning the Davis Cup. This is the most intense pressure ever in my life and to win it in front of the home crowd is the best possible way. It’s unbelievable.” Serbia succeeded to win their first Davis Cup final and becomes the 13th nation to raise the trophy over the head.
The score went 0-1, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 3-2 to the Serbs as they lost the first meeting which has been disputed between Janko Tipsarevic and Gael Monfils, France’s number one, while champions’ second defeat came at doubles. World Tour Finals winner Zimonjic paired with Troicki to be overcome after a 2-0 set-advantage by Arnaoud Clemend and Llodra. Novak Djokovic won his both meetings against Gilles Simon, whom he defeated 6-3, 6-1, 7-5 not to drop any set throughout the final.
