After not taking part last year, Novak Djokovic is back in the Serbian team for the 2023 Davis Cup Finals later this year.
Djokovic last played for Serbia back in 2021 when the country took part in the Finals, but it wasn't enough as none of his teammates could win a single match. Last year Djokovic skipped over the competition leaving the country vulnerable, and once again, they didn't make it.
This year the hope is for the country to finally go all the way though they will heavily rely on Djokovic to lead them there. It's not like that hasn't been the case in years past, and even so it proved enough for him to lead them to glory before.
The country will have to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition to be played in Malaga in November first, and it's a tough group. Having to play Spain on Spanish soil won't be fun, and the other nations are no slouches either.
If that wasn't enough, they'll have to deal with Carlos Alcaraz as well, so it will be a huge showdown between Alcaraz and Djokovic in the Davis Cup in about a month. Besides Djokovic, team captain Viktor Troicki nominated the usual suspects and one newcomer.
We have Laslo Djere, Miomir Kecmanovic, Dusan Lajovic, and newcomer Hamad Medjedovic. It's a pretty strong squad but notably lacks any dedicated doubles players, as none of them are particularly great on that side of the ball.
Djokovic will obviously do his best, but they don't need the doubles if they can win the singles. We'll see how it goes from September 12th till the 17th in Valencia. The group is fairly tough with Spain, the Czech Republic, and the Republic of Korea. It should be a good fight for the two spots into the Finals, especially if we get the premium match.
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