Bet on Djokovic vs Simon – Serb holds nation’s hopes in his hands
Published:Novak Djokovic will head into his first Davis Cup singles match with Gilles Simon knowing just how much he needs to do to lead his country to victory.
With Janko Tipsarevic playing Gael Monfils in the first of the five Davis Cup matches between Serbia and France, should Tipsarevic lose then the pressure on Djokovic to win will be huge.
In front of his home fans, Djokovic is expected to lead his country to a Davis Cup win and Simon needs to take an early lead if he is to stand any chance of winning.
With all the pressure on Djokovic, Simon looks a decent price at 9/2 to register a victory for France, and should he win the first set, 3/1 to do so, Djokovic may struggle under the weight of expectancy.
But Simon has only ever beaten Djokovic once in six attempts, and that was the first time they met back in July 2008.
The two met as recently as October where Djokovic won comfortably in straight sets in the China Open, and the Serb is 8/11 to win 3-0 today.
However, in four of the six matches between the two, the match has gone the distance and Djokovic offers plenty of value at 7/1 to win the match 3-2.
With a partisan crowd behind him Djokovic should prevail should he find himself at 2 sets all with Simon, but should the Serb find the pressure to hard to handle, Simon is tempting at 12/1 to win in five sets.
Only one of the sets between these two in their six matches has ended in a tiebreak and 8/11 for their to be no tiebreak in the match offers good value considering four of the 16 sets have been won 7-5.
A £10 stake on Simon to beat Djokovic 3-0 would return £210. New customers can sign up here for a free £10 bet.
