After leading Serbia to the 2013 Davis Cup final, and then taking a year off, Novak Djokovic is back for the Davis Cup – and claiming favouritism.
Djokovic had to sit back last year and watch Roger Federer pair with Stan Wawrinka to capture the only major tennis trophy to have eluded him.
Federer and Wawrinka are skipping the Davis Cup this year, decimating Switzerland’s chances of beating Belgium in Liege in the first round, and leaving Djokovic to bring the star power this week.
The hyper interest this week is not only in Djokovic, but also because the match starting Friday is against Croatia.
It will be their second meeting since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
In 2010, Djokovic led Serbia to a quarter-final victory in Split in what he called a “tough atmosphere,” en route to its first and only title.
“I expect an interesting match,” Djokovic said. “The Serbian and Croatian rivalry is special.”
Serbia will also feature Viktor Troicki, who clinched the win in the 2010 final.
When the former top-12 player returned to the tour from a year-long drug ban, his ranking was 842. It’s back to 41.
Not available for Croatia is injured US Open champion Marin Cilic, leaving the team to be led by 18-year-old Borna Coric, who beat Rafael Nadal in October and Andy Murray last week in Dubai.
Murray leads Britain against the United States in Glasgow, on an indoor hard court, hoping to emulate the win in San Diego a year ago.
There are two more rematches from 2014: Germany vs. France, and Canada vs. Japan.
Germany looked like beating France in the quarter-finals last year for the first time since 1938, but France came back from 2-0 down for the fourth time in its history.
Germany has added Philipp Kohlschreiber, while France won’t have Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Frankfurt.
Japan extended its record against Canada to 6-0 last year in Tokyo, but shouldn’t find it so easy in Vancouver as Canada has been bolstered by No.6 Milos Raonic in what appears to be an even matchup.
The Czech Republic will host Australia for the first time since becoming an independent nation, but the visitors have a chance to ruin the party in Ostrava.
The Czechs don’t have stalwarts Tomas Berdych or Radek Stepanek, while Australia, which hasn’t passed the first round in nine years, features Bernard Tomic and the retiring Lleyton Hewitt.
Argentina and Brazil meet for the first time in the World Group, with Argentina favourites, while Italy, with four players in the top 80, takes an impressive team for the first time to Astana, to face Kazakhstan.
The Kazakhs beat Austria and Belgium at home in the last two years, and will be confident of making the quarter-finals for the third straight year.
Belgium will also back itself to celebrate a first win over Switzerland since 1999.
