As Novak Djokovic gears up for the Davis Cup Final 8 stage, he could potentially run into a rival with whom he shares a rough history. Serbia will face Great Britain in the quarter-finals and with Andy Murray and Dan Evans absent, their path looks easy. Cameron Norrie is now the foremost singles player for the island nation and will likely face Djokovic in the singles tie. The last time they met, they had an altercation with the Brit accusing the Serb of tardiness.
Great Britain topped their group in the Davis Cup group stage while Serbia finished second in theirs. Murray announced his withdrawal following a shoulder injury. This further weakened the squad that was already reeling from Evans pulling out. Norrie is the highest-ranked singles player (No.18) but has endured an underwhelming and inconsistent season. He will now take up the mantle of the primary singles player.
World No. 60 Jack Draper is only 21 while Murray’s replacement Liam Broady is ranked outside the top 100. Doubles specialists Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury round up the squad.
Serbia, meanwhile, are fully stocked. Djokovic will be joined by Laslo Djere, Dusan Lajovic, and Miomir Kecmanovic. The latter, at World No. 55, is the lowest ranked out of this quartet. 20-year-old World No.111 Hamad Medjedovic completes the team.
The headline singles clash will likely be Djokovic taking on Norrie. The duo last faced off in the ATP Rome Masters Round of 16 where the former won in straight sets. However, the match was marred by the duo taking shots at each other. The Serb took offence to Norrie taking medical time-outs and yelling after every point. He said while players are legally allowed to do so, it is a consensus that such things are not fair play.
Norrie hit back at Djokovic, accusing him of coming late for the match and not apologising for it. (via TennisHead)
“The match was scheduled for 11 am. And we walked out maybe 11.12 am, 11.13 am. I don’t think he saw any problem with that. He never said anything to me. And he never apologised. “I asked: ‘Was that OK to do that?’ They [the officials] said: ‘Yeah, it is within the rules.’ After 15 minutes, he gets defaulted. I said: ‘OK,’ and I continued warming up.”
He said he had never seen any player do that before and stated one should always be on time.
“I’ve never seen that before from any player. Regardless if it’s a tennis match or not, you turn up on time for whatever it is.”
Novak Djokovic also had a run-in with Ben Shelton
Novak Djokovic lifted his 24th Grand Slam title at the US Open. He beat young American Ben Shelton in the semi-finals. The match was fiery and headline-grabbing. The 20-year-old was loud and vocal throughout the fixture, aggressively celebrating after points. The eventual champion, however, had the last laugh as he won in straight sets. He imitated the local rookie’s ‘dialling the telephone’ celebration as he secured the match.
Djokovic drew flak from many corners for copying Shelton’s celebration. However, it is a trademark characteristic of the Serb to get under the skin of opponents to rile him up and beat them convincingly to emerge on top. Norrie will likely get a taste of this as well in their potential Davis Cup Final 8 clash. If Djokovic turns up looking to shut him down with their tiff in Rome on his mind, the Brit is in for a tough time on the court.
