Djokovic leads Serbia to Davis Cup final clash with France

Novak Djokovic recovered from gastroenteritis in time to lead Serbia to their first ever Davis Cup final after a 3-2 win over Czech Republic in the semi-finals.

Djokovic had to pull out of his first singles match which allowed Radek Stepanek to put the Czech Republic into an early 1-0 lead.

But two wins from Janko Tipsarevic and Djokovic’s singles win over Tomas Berdych secured the win for Serbia.

It leaves them facing a France side that has some serious strength in depth with 11 French players currently ranked inside the top 100 – compared with the United States’ six and Serbia’s three, that’s a pretty impressive feat.

France hammered the Argentinian team 5-0 in their semi-final but Serbia hold favouritism; they have shortened from 11/8 to 4/7 in the Davis Cup betting market.

This seems short considering the form that the French players have shown all year – a total of 16 Frenchmen made up the 64 who made it through to the second round of the season’s final grand slam, the US Open.

France are backable at 5/4 to win the Davis Cup, they were 2/1 before the semi-final, and will be hopeful of a return to the glory days of the late 1920/30’s when they won six Davis Cups in a row.

The infamous quartet of Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet and Reni Lacoste dominated the game during that era and the French youth system is producing a top standard of tennis player.

The French side cannot boast a Grand Slam winner like Novak Djokovic and Serbia will be highly reliant on him in December if they are to win the Davis Cup.

Serbia are too short to back, especially if Djokovic gets injured. See the full Davis Cup tennis betting market here.