In 2021, just after winning the Roland Garros, Novak Djokovic lost to Dan Evans in the Round of 16 of the Monte Carlos Masters in a 6-4, 7-5 straight defeat. They have never met since then and Djokovic has singled out Evans as a threat to his country’s hopes of lifting the Davis Cup title as Great Britain prepares to take on Serbia in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup on November 23.
Novak Djokovic has also shown strong support for Marco Trungelliti after the Argentine was branded a snitch for reporting a match-fixing group to authorities in tennis, in which three of his countrymen received suspensions.
Djokovic eyes Dan Evans as key threat in Davis Cup
Novak Djokovic has made it clear that winning the Davis Cup is his biggest desire for the season, while also saying that Dan Evans is one of the dangerous players he is worried about in the Great Britain team.
The Davis Cup Finals has thrown up a mouthwatering clash in the last of four quarter-final ties as Britain faces Serbia on November 23. Djokovic confessed to Sportal Britain that they have a strong squad as he highlighted one man in particular – Evans. “They are a complete team, they have four top singles players, while one of them, Evans, is extremely good in doubles as well. I saw that he played continuously and that he was the choice of their coach in combination with Skupski. They are very difficult and I hope that we will be able to win after the singles.”
This comes after Evans and Skupski defeated France’s Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in a decisive doubles rubber at the Manchester Arena last month. “It will be very difficult, tense, if Evans plays the other board, he is a very awkward player against everyone. However, I believe in our guys,” Novak Djokovic added.
The world No 1 recently showed his dedication to the Davis Cup as he went straight to Serbia’s group stage tie in Valencia after winning the US Open. Djokovic then pulled out of the Asian swing to take a brief break from the sport and he will return for the Paris Masters, the ATP Finals and, of course, the Davis Cup.
Novak Djokovic reaches out to Marco Trugelliti
Novak Djokovic has praised Marco Trungelliti after the Argentine was branded a snitch for reporting a matchfixing group to authorities in the sport, resulting in three of his countrymen receiving suspensions. Djokovic, in 2016 also revealed a match-fixing group during an investigation.
Trungelliti made waves in 2019 when he revealed that he reported a match-fixing group to the Tennis Integrity Unit. The TIU later asked him to testify in the cases of three of his compatriots who were already being investigated – Federico Coria, Nicolas Kicker and Patricio Heras.
Novak Djokovic told Sportal, “I saw what he said and I immediately told Charlie to contact him and thank him for his kind words, since the two of them are in direct contact. Also, since I didn’t know about his situation and what he was going through in the previous three or four years, I can say that I am very sorry for all of that.”
“He did not deserve such treatment at all because he showed courage and audacity to protect the integrity of the sport by coming forward with the fact that someone had approached him and offered to cheat on matches for betting purposes,” Djokovic added.
The world No 236 is hoping to rejuvenate and go back to his 2019 form when he was ranked no. 112.
