This weekend, the Serbian tennis team will fight with the Spanish team to advance to the final of the Davis Cup team tournament. Tennis fans were counting on a duel between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. However, the Spaniard withdrew from the event. The Serb spoke out about Alcaraz’s decision.
Since the beginning of this year’s Davis Cup, Spain has been weaker because Rafael Nadal, who has been injured since the beginning of the year, is missing from the squad. However, the Spaniards were calm about their fate because they still had another great star in the national team – Carlos Alcaraz. It turns out that this weekend he will also be absent from the match between Spain and Serbia to advance to the Davis Cup final.
Two-time Grand Slam champion and former World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz announced that he would need to skip the Davis Cup this week as he would need to prioritise rest in preparation for the tournaments that are to come between now and the end of the season.
The absence of Nadal and Alcaraz is very good news for the Serbs. However, this is not good news for fans who wanted to see the fight between Alcaraz and Djokovic. Both of these tennis players played against each other several times this year, and since then their rivalry has become what fans are most looking forward to. How did Novak Djokovic react to Carlos Alcaraz’s withdrawal from the Davis Cup tournament?
-The truth is that I expected to play against Carlos here in Valencia. He is a player whom I respect a lot, and whenever I have measured up against him, those matches have been very tough. Players must be protected in these situations. Of course, there will be people disappointed, because he hasn’t come to play in Spain, people who don’t understand that he is tired at the age of 20 and someone at 36 like me is here. It’s important to understand each context, last year he won the title and was here to play, don’t forget that. He came here with hardly any time to rest. Take into account in my 20-year career I didn’t go to play every qualifying round either, and people’s response wasn’t always positive. It is difficult to always be exemplary for everyone, but we are all year-round travelling the world, playing tournaments, taking the body to the limit, at some point it is necessary to rest.- said Djokovic.
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