Topic: Tennis League All Thread - page 339. (Read 203668 times)

Djokovic is the best tennis player in the world, but even he can't win alone, without the help of his teammates.
Even before the match between Croatia and Serbia, it was known that the first match between Gojo and Lajovic would be crucial for the victory.
It was already known in advance that the Serbs have little chance in doubles and that Cilic also has very little chance in the match against Djokovic.
However, in the expected final against the Russians, Cilic will finally have to contribute and win because the Russian team has two very good individual players.

You are right mate, Gojo was the big surprise beating Lajovic in a come from behind fashion.

And as expected, top-ranked Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic beats Djokovic and partner Filip Krajinovic. First set was close, but the second? nah, forget about it.

So with this defeat, Djokovic closes his calendar not winning the Olympic gold and then the golden slam.

he came out of nowhere and played so well in this cup, I have seen him play before and never thought that he could do anything, but he proved me wrong and made me lose a bet today, I thought Lajovic will pull it off today as I was expecting Serbia to face Russia, but it didn't happen and I think surprises are done now, Russia will hopefully win the Davis cup, it would be the trophy to top it up for Russian tennis.

It will be exactly the same situation against Russia. Cilic will lose to Medvedev for sure but I am hoping Gojo will be able to surprise another top player in Rublev. Rublev is much better player of course but I feel like Gojo has a chance here. He is very disciplined, plays important points well and gets better towards the ends of sets. Those are exactly the situations when Rublev breaks apart sometimes. If this match gets to towards the end of sets without breaks I am thinking Gojo has good chance. Rublev is not stable player and he will gift something when it gets though. It also helps when he knows he must win, since doubles should be ours.

Would be funny if we win the Davis cup and Čilić as out top player looses 4 matches in a row 

@Trofo - great call and played out just as you posted.

What a card to be able to play, a doubles team with so much talent and experience
playing together. Of course its important to win at least one singles match.

Provided Russia advance past Germany the final will be very interesting with Croatia.

Gojo was able to surprise Lajovic and get another top100 win that is really dissapointing for Serbia. In the end Serbia was just Djokovic and he just cannot play all the games and win them all. I think Serbian players should think about where they stand ,everyone else other then Djokovic was awful

Indeed. Many predicted that Gojo's match would be decisive due to the third match, which is the only one in which the Croats are favorites. Once again, Gojo has shown why he is such an outstanding player in the Davis Cup. And Pavic and Mektic are always up for a great match, as they have throughout the season. I am certain that the best doubles players in the world will lead the Croatian team to victory.

I don't know what is the hype about Serbia. Yes they have a guaranteed point in Djoković but we also have a guaranteed point in doubles with Mektić/Pavić. Gojo is way down the ranking when compared to Krajinović but this is Davis cup and that is something different. Gojo already proved he is getting better and better as the stakes rise higher and he won both matches in Davis cup so far, one of them was against Sonego who is much better than Krajinović. Krajinović has lost all his Davis cup matches without getting a set. My bet is on Croatia @4.2 since I see this match as max 60:40 in favor of Serbia and that has lots of value for me.

Russia is my first favorite from the begging and I expect them to take the title.

Straight enough win by Russia yesterday against Sweden which was to be
expected although Rublev in the first match was stretched to the tie break in
the third set, Medvedev met the second Ymer (Michael) to win in 2 sets.

First of the semi's today Croatia v Serbia, second semi tomorrow Russia v Germany.

I think we all see this going to a Serbia v Russia final ...

United Kingdom v Germany, its 1 - 1 going into the doubles match. Dan Evans did
brilliantly against Gojowczyk but Norrie had a tough match against Struff, I thought
he would win that one TBH after narrowly missing out in the first set and then taking
the second set but Struff was just too strong in the third.

And so again it comes down to the doubles match with all 4 players seasoned doubles players.

It seems to me that Sonego was under too much pressure and simply couldn't withstand the burden of the great expectations of the whole nation.
For me, it is actually a surprise that Croatia went so far in this competition because our main player lost all our key matches.
I have never heard of these new players in the Croatian national team, but it's obvious that Croatian tennis has a great future.
Once again, it turned out that Cilic was simply no longer at the top level of tennis like a few years ago and his time was definitely over. It's time for some new players in the Croatian team.
Cilic has simply lost his self-confidence and faith in himself and is losing matches he used to win easily before.

I watched all 3 matches almost from beginning to the end, skipped a few games here and there.

Sonego lost this match for Itally. He was the "biggest" favorite and he lost against our Gojo, he is barely in top 300, 279 to be precise. I can't believe top 30 player can break apart so easy while playing at home and having a coach on the bench. Just watch last game of that match and you'll get my point. Every time Gojo saved a break point, Sonego played next game like total amateur and lost it. Was funny to see.

Cilic actually surprised me and was playing great throughout most of the match but Sinner managed to keep himself close and clawed back some games as soon as Cilic dropped his intensity a little. Italy had no chance in doubles, we have the best double in the world and it shows. They have the game, confidence and experience to win that deciding point every time for us. If that is not ewnough they play together on the tour, I don't think anybody had anything similar in Davis cup ever, except USA and Bryan brothers. Just think about following, we also have Dodig who is currently 12 in the world in the doubles and he has no place in this team.

Anyway, my betting bank took a hit since I had some bets on Italy (screw Sonego) but still I am happy Croatia managed to qualify to the next round.

Ah its a pity for Italy, Sinner made a great comeback against Cilic who was
serving for the match in the second set but unfortunately he and Fognini had to
play against the #1 doubles pairing. Fognini's service game was the weak link.

Yes Russia are indeed looking the strongest now but we have seen some surprising
results and upsets, players are playing for their country and are part of a team.

unexpected loss for Lorenzo Sonego cost Italy to be out of the competition, it seems for me that it's obvious now that Russia are the closest to win it, they will play next against the easiest team left Sweden, Rublev to win is @1.1 and Medvedev is @ 1.04, they will for sure qualify, I feel like I Medvedev and Djokovic play against each other again, Medvedev is going to win, Russia are looking better.

I am confident that it will be quite opposite, he will take the vaccine if needed, but eventually he will play in Australia for sure

it was almost the same for Olympics, he will not play without audience, and he eventually came in Japan to play

this would be no different, drama until the last minute, and than he will decide to play no matter what

I read the same interview in some Belgium newspapers. Australia is just applying its rules for everyone and they can't make an exception for some tennis players.
Guess the young generation gets an early chance again to win a new grandslam title.

I'm fairly confident that Djokovic won't play in Australia. It would seem entirely unfitting to his character to take the vaccine, even if it means missing the chance of slam #21.

There's also been an interview with his father today, that seems to back this position:

Itally vs. Croatia should come down to Sinner vs. Cilic and unfortunately I have to agree with you and say that Sinner should win that one without much problems. Especially after seeing Cilic loose against some player ranked 250 the other day. Yes it was totally not important match but still player of Cilic quality and serve should never loose matches like this.

Sonego should win against our second player - probably Gojo, and our pair Mektic/Pavic should win against Italian pair whomever they put to play.

I watched the Spain Russia doubles match, in the first set Spain, particularly Lopez
couldnt do anything wrong and Rublev was the weak link on the Russian side, that all
changed from the second set as Rublev was finding his first serve again.

So Serbia are still in as lucky losers with Sweden. I suppose a lot of people will
expect Serbia to come through against Kazakhstan.

Great Britan v Germany should be a close one as they seem evenly matched.

Unfortunately they lost and this defeat made Spain unable to defend their title, Good move for Russia.
Here are the countries that made it to the quarter-finals
Russia vs Sweden
Great Britain vs Germany
Italy vs Croatia
Serbia vs Kazakhstan
Source
My prediction is that Russia, Great Britain, Italy and Serbia are very likely to make it to the semifinals.