Court against the hosts

The first matches of the 2008 Davis Cup will take place today

At the Small Sports Arena of Luzhniki in the 1/8 finals of the Davis Cup, the Russian team meets Serbian tennis players. After the draw that took place the day before, the roles of the players were distributed as follows. In the first singles match, Mikhail Youzhny will face Novak Djokovic. Following them will be Nikolay Davydenko and Viktor Troitsky. On Saturday, if there are no replacements, a doubles match is planned with the participation of Dmitry Tursunov - Marat Safin and Novak Djokovic - Nenad Zimonzic, and on Sunday Youzhny and Djokovic will exchange partners.

The Russians laid rukort hard as the surface on which the matches will be held at Luzhniki. According to the captain of the Russian tennis team, Shamil Tarpishchev, the choice of hard court as a surface plays into the hands of the Serbs. From the Russians' point of view, it would be preferable to fill the soil. However, taking into account the fact that this is an Olympic year and the vast majority of tournaments will be held in February on hard court, it was decided not to make an unnecessary transition from one surface to another. In other words, the Russian team is faced with a very difficult task - to win on a court that is stacked against them.

The meeting with the Russians will be the debut of the Serbian national team in the World Group. At one time, Yugoslavia, which Serbia became its successor, reached the semi-finals three times - in 1988, 1989 and 1991. Then generations of players changed, and for 15 years the Serbs waited for their return to the men's tennis elite. Finally, last year in Belgrade, in front of 20 thousand fans, the Serbs defeated the tennis players of the Green Continent for the first time in history. The leader of the Serbian quartet, Novak Djokovic, then brought three points to his team, and at the moment we can confidently say that the leader of the rivals is on the rise.

Less than two weeks ago, Djokovic won the Australian Open for the first time in his career. On his way to the world title, he beat world No. 1 Roger Federer. By the way, this is not the first time. Last season in Montreal, the Serbian genius defeated three leading players at once in one tournament - Federer, world number two Rafael Nadal and third-ranked player Andy Roddick. Djokovic's main trump cards are versatility, a unique ability to play on any type of surface, plus the Serb is a thinking tennis player. Its only drawback so far is instability. This is how the Russian captain gave Djokovic a description.

The Serbian quartet, without a doubt, would strengthen the presence on the court of the team's second racket, Janko Tipsarevic, who is especially good on hard court. However, as it became known, Tipsarevich will not be able to help the team, since he was injured while already in Moscow. As for Nenad Zimonjic, he is one of the best doubles players in the world. The 31-year-old Serb has earned 18 titles throughout his career, and last year he had perhaps his best season, which he finished in fifth position among doubles players in the world.

The 114th racket of the world, Viktor Troicki, announced for the singles match, can be called a “dark horse”. So far he has not won a single tournament. His biographical information indicates that Vic began playing tennis at the age of five. At the age of 13, he went to Florida to study tennis, but returned home two years later. For a long time, the young man was fond of two sports - tennis and football, but in the end he gave preference to the first. Troicki is the only one of the Serbian quartet with a higher education.

According to Shamil Tarpishchev, the advantage of the Russian four is their even composition. The team included Nikolay Davydenko, Mikhail Yuzhny, Dmitry Tursunov and Marat Safin. After the draw, the captain of the Russian team said that he was quite satisfied with the results, and that in fact the order in which they entered the court did not really matter. You just have to go out, play and win.

Olga ERMOLINA