The final half an hour of Novak Djokovic’s stellar season struck an incongruous note. Major events this year have almost invariably ended with a beaming Djokovic hoisting the silverware, yet the Davis Cup semi-finals brought only alien sensations – ignominy, frustration, defeat – as Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic overcame the world No 1 and his partner Filip Krajinovic to seal a 2-1 win for Croatia over Serbia.
The ignominy came when Mektic pummelled a short ball into Djokovic’s feet to seal the opening set. The frustration showed as Djokovic kicked his bag into the advertising hoardings after a forehand volley flew long to yield a second-set break that would prove terminal against the world’s top-ranked doubles pair. The defeat finally came when Djokovic, lunging to reach a Mektic second serve, sent a forehand return wide, spelling the end of Serbia’s Davis Cup dream for another year.
In truth, the writing was on the wall for Djokovic and company from the moment Croatia’s Borna Gojo upset Dusan Lajovic, a player ranked 246 places above him, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Gojo, a big-serving 23-year-old from Split, has been a revelation over the past 10 days, beating world No 61 Alexei Popyrin in his opening match before overcoming Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in the quarter-finals. His success has relieved the burden on former US Open champion Marin Cilic – beaten here by Djokovic 6-4, 6-2 – and given Croatia the perfect platform to advance in a competition where having the Wimbledon doubles champions in your corner offers a formidable advantage.
“We always knew it was going to be the toughest match of the tie for us, this rubber,” said Djokovic, who took the time to individually congratulate each member of the Croatia team following his 7-5, 6-1 defeat alongside Krajinovic. “If it came down to doubles deciding [the tie], we knew we would not be the favourites because we’re playing the best team in the world, two guys that play all the time together, know each other very well. They’re doubles specialists. This is what they do. This is the only thing that they focus on.
“We don’t play doubles much. Maybe we should play more. I mean, in order to win Davis Cup, we need to have more doubles players.
“We need to have a doubles team that is constantly playing together, otherwise it’s going to be a Mount Everest to climb for us every time we play.”
Croatia, the champions in 2005 and 2018 and beaten finalists five years ago, will face either Germany or the Russian Tennis Federation in Sunday’s final.
“The team did an incredible job making it to the final,” said Cilic. “Third one in five years. This is something exceptional and doesn’t happen very often, even in these last 20 years of Davis Cup – or even more.”