Bad news for Indian tennis fans who were eagerly waiting for the Serbian tennis star and World No. 1 in the ATP Rankings, Novak Djokovic playing in their home conditions. Actually and tough and harsh season has taken a toll on Djokovic and he has announced that he is not going to play in the playoff match of the Davis Cup for Serbia against India later this month. The tie is scheduled to play in Bangalore.
The Serbian website novosti.rs has also confirmed this news by quoting Serbia’s non playing captain Bogdan Obradovic who said that the current world No. 1 is too tired to play further in the season and he is not traveling with the team to India. In his official statement Obradovic said, “Our best player Novak Djokovic is definitely not coming to India. The biggest reason is fatigue. Novak had a very hard part of the season and he needs a break and a trip to India needs a huge effort, not only in terms of travel but coming from one planet to the other. First the long travel from New York to Bangalore plus the humid and hot weather of the city may make the champion player further drained.”
Djokovic already suffered a heat stroke during the US Open while receiving a historical defeat by the hands of Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the semi-finals. At that point of time only Djokovic was more or less certain not to travel to India for the Davis Cup tie.
But now since the decision is done with, the Serbian Davis Cup team management is making all its efforts to have all the remaining major players on board. But the big question is that among those remaining Serb players which player has the capacity to match the mental and physical strength of Novak Djokovic? With the withdrawal of Djokovic the balance has certainly shifted to the center if not in favor of India. If you see the probable replacement of Djokovic, Ilija Bozoljac who is No. 171 in the world, the chances are that Serbia has already lost the edge.
Along with the fans, the organizers in India too are feeling huge disappointment with Djokovic’s decision to withdraw from the tie.