The No. 3-ranked Serb has to do what he has done numerous times in the past: win both of his singles for the small Balkan country to stand a chance against the French.
The draw Thursday pitted Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic against France's No. 1 Gael Monfils, and Djokovic against France's No. 2 Gilles Simon in the opening singles Friday when the three-day best-of-five match final starts. Reverse singles are Sunday and team captains can change their players one hour before the match.
France's Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement, former Wimbledon champions who are 7-2 in the Davis Cup, are pitted to face Nenad Zimonjic, who won the year-end doubles crown, and Viktor Troicki in the doubles Saturday.
Serbia, which rose from the ashes of the former Yugoslavia, is seeking its first Davis Cup title against 16-time finalist France, which won its last crown in 2001.
“It's Serbia's chance of a lifetime,” Djokovic said.
“Who knows if we'll ever get the same opportunity to play the finals in front of our crowd?” Djokovic is unbeaten in his last five Davis Cup singles matches, including against the United States, Croatia and the Czech Republic in the lead-up to the finals.
“Regardless of who I play, I have to be on top of my game,” Djokovic said. “It's the finals of Davis Cup.
Everybody will try to perform their best and everybody will have a lot of motivation to play great tennis in these three days.” Simon has lost to Djokovic five times since he won their first match in 2008.
“I know it's not going to be easy, but I already defeated him once,” Simon said. “I know that I will have to play my best tennis if I want to have a chance to win. It's clear in my mind and I just hope that I will be able to do it.” Djokovic expects a grueling match against the French No.
2.
“He's the type of player who likes to be very patient from the baseline and just force his opponent to make errors,” Djokovic said. “Tactically that's probably going to be the case tomorrow. I will try to be patient but aggressive at the same time, try to control the match.” Doubles specialist Llodra, who beat Djokovic in straight sets at the Paris Masters last month, was expected to start in singles in place of Simon.
“In my opinion, that was the best choice for the French team,” France captain Guy Forget said. “The Sunday matches probably will count. That leaves me probably some more options doing it this way.
“Doubles could be a big point,” Forget added.
France's No. 1 Monfils thinks the draw, which has him opening against Tipsarevic in the singles, was favorable for his team.
“I think maybe for the team, if I bring the first point in, it will put more pressure on Novak,” Monfils said.
“And Gilles can play a better match if we're 1-0 up. So I think it's good for the team.” Monfils, who has a 2-2 record against Tipsarevic, said he expected a “tough match from the baseline.” “I know Janko,” Monfils said. “He will be very nervous because he will come out first on the court in front of the Serbian crowd. It will be tough for him. I will try to be very relaxed and just play my game.” Tipsarevic, who was eliminated from the US Open by Monfils, disagreed.
“If he thinks I'll be more nervous than him in front of 18,000 Serb supporters, he's dead wrong,” Tipsarevic, who won both his singles in the semifinals against the Czech Republic, said.
