THE Serbian Tennis Federation has confirmed that they will host July's Davis Cup quarter final tie with Great Britain on an outdoor clay court at the Tasmajdan Stadium in Belgrade. While the move isn't entirely unexpected, the choice of surface will maximise the disruption for the world's top two tennis players, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, in the event that both participate in what would be one of the most eagerly-awaited showdowns in the history of this competition.
The tie, which will be played on 15-17 July, is slotted into a congested and problematic area of the tennis calendar. It will occur immediately after the culmination of the grass court season in Wimbledon, at a time when the sport's big hitters, after going deep in SW19, would prefer to be transitioning to hard court play ahead for the US swing, the Olympics and the US Open.
While clay is regarded as Andy Murray's weakest surface, and one which post-operation he requires time to transition to, it is worth pointing out that he ran Djokovic close in the last four of Roland Garros 12 months ago. Britain's last outing on clay, albeit indoors, saw them lift the Davis Cup against Belgium for the first time in 79 years and Murray has already stated that, if fit, he will definitely play in the match.
“Now we know the surface and venue our preparations for the Serbia tie can go to the next level," said Leon Smith, the Aegon GB Davis Cup Team Captain. "It is going to be an exciting contest in Belgrade and we can’t wait to get back together as a team and continue our defence of the title.”
Whatever the final selections, the showdown at the 6,100 seater city centre arena will be only be the second time the two nations have met in the competition. While the teenage duo of Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic both featured in the tie at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena in 2006, with Djokovic winning both his singles rubbers to help secure a 3-2 win for Serbia, the teenage Murray's participation was limited to a doubles defeat with Greg Rusedski against Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic.
Djokovic, who is undefeated in singles rubbers in this competition since 2011, does have defeats on his record in this competition to Roger Federer in 2006 and Rafa Nadal in 2009. The last few weeks have seen a cooling of relations between the respective camps, with Djokovic's coach Boris Becker making some veiled criticisms of the World No 2 for some recent forthright comments about doping. Without naming any names, Murray said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday that he had faced players and thought "they don't seem to be getting tired" but Becker said: "Unless it's proven, they are 100% innocent. To assume something because somebody has won a Grand Slam or is fitter, is totally out of order."
*For the latest information on the Davis Cup tie, including ticket information, go to www.lta.org.uk and on Twitter @BritishTennis.
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