BELGRADE, Sept 18 (AFP): Serbia's growing legion of tennis fans have a rare chance to roar on their fast-rising stars this week when Novak Djokovic spearheads his Davis Cup team out against Australia.
World No. 3 Djokovic's Serbia are confident of banishing Australia-the second most successful country in the Davis Cup - from the elite stages of the competition for only the second time in their history.
"I'm optimistic because of the results that players from our squad have achieved in recent times on the international scene," the 20-year-old said ahead of the Belgrade tie.
Djokovic has gone from strength to strength in 2007 along with fellow Serbs Janko Tipsarevic, Nenad Zimonjic, Viktor Troicki and, in the women's game, world No. 3 Jelena Jankovic and sixth- ranked Ana Ivanovic.
His rewards have been ATP titles in Adelaide, Miami, Estoril and Montreal, where he became the first player for 13 years to beat the world's three top-ranked players in the same event.
The emergence of Djokovic, Jankovic and Ivanovic in particular has been all the more remarkable for a country that lacks the resources to train and support new talent, or even host any tournaments of significance.
Serbs ready to bump Aussies from Davis Cup world group
FE Team | Published: September 19, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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