Filip Krajinovic: Not easy to play for Serbia at ATP Cup without Novak Djokovic

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• Novak Djokovic

Serbia's Filip Krajinovic admitted it's not easy to play for Serbia without having world No. 1 Novak Djokovic at the ATP Cup. Djokovic's name appeared on the ATP Cup entry list but the Serb decided against kicking off his season in Sydney.

Djokovic led Serbia to winning the inaugural ATP Cup in 2020. Without Djokovic, Serbia doesn't have much chance of winning the ATP Cup. “It is not easy to play for Serbia without Djokovic,” Krajinovic said after beating Norwegian Viktor Durasovic, per the ATP Cup website..

“The expectations are very big. Whatever you do is not enough because he is No. 1 and the greatest of all time. I am sure he is watching us now and cheering for us”.

Djokovic informed the team the day before the start

Dusan Lajovic revealed Djokovic informed the team about his decision not to play the ATP Cup the day-and-a-half-ago before the start of the event.

“We knew, I think, a day-and-a-half ago or something like that,” Lajovic said, per The Australian. “I think we’re all waiting for that last-minute decision and it’s never the same when you have the No.1 in your team and you don’t have it – it’s a big difference.

“Obviously, when Novak is in the team, the expectations get much higher and everybody’s putting a spotlight on Novak, of course, and trying to push the whole team. “Right now, maybe we’re on the sideline a little bit and it could be good for us, it could be bad – we’ll see.

“But it’s definitely different and we’ll get to see what happens after the tournament and how it goes. “He was, I think, hoping the same as we did, that somehow he will be here, but unfortunately he’s not and we’ve got to deal with it”. Djokovic is currently training in Marbella as his Australian Open participation remains a mistery.