12. 05. 2009. ·
The draw for the Davis Cup 2009 World Group Play-off took place at the ITF offices in London. The team of Serbia will face Uzbekistan.
The encounter will be staged in Belgrade from September 18-20.
Serbia needs to win in order to retain it’s place in the Davis Cup World Group (in the first round tie in March this year Serbia lost to Spain 1-4).
The best Uzbekistan tennis player is Denis Istomin, world no.91., next is Murad Inoyatov #437, then Farrukh Dustov #637 and Vaja Uzakov #834.
Uzbekistan is 23rd in the current Davis Cup rankings, while Serbia is 13th.
The team of Uzbekistan has played two ties in 2009. In the second round they beat Rep.of Korea (4-1), and in the third they were better than Japan (3-2) in Group I Asia/Oceania .
Captain of Serbian DC team, Bogdan Obradovic, was very content with the draw.
”Right after the draw I’ve spoken to all our players, Novak Djokovic, Viktor Troicki, Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic, and also with our advisor Nikola Pilic. We’re all very happy with the draw. The team of Uzbekistan has one respectable player, Denis Istomin, while the others are, with all respect, far from the world class and our best players” – said Obradovic.
Other seven play-off ties are:
Chile vs Austria
Belgium vs Ukraine
Brazil vs Ecuador
Netherlands vs France
South Africa vs India
Sweden vs Romania
Italy vs Switzerland
The eight winning nations will advance to the 2010 World Group, while the eight losing nations will start next year in Group I of the zonal competition.
