After reaching the semis of the ATP World Tour Finals 2010, Novak Djokovic is yet again shouldering the burden of tremendous hopes. Well, the Serbian has got the opportunity to keep the hopes alive for his countrymen to clinch their first ever Davis Cup title. On the other hand, France is certainly in a better position, as it has earned a 2-1 lead after second day’s play. Well, this time Djokovic will take on Gael Monfils who trounced Tipsarevic in his last final match and the Frenchman will be feeling supremely confident, coming to this duel.
 
After the doubles game, the Davis Cup Final now enters the reverse singles matches. Djokovic will enjoy a great support at Belgrade Arena, as his home crowd is there. On the other hand, France has an opportunity to add tenth Davis Cup title to its tally. In the doubles match, French Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra subdued the Serbs Nenad Zimonjic and Viktor Troicki to give 2-1 lead to their country.

After coming this far, Serbian team will do anything possible to earn its maiden Davis Cup title. To make it possible, Novak Djokovic will go full-throttle against the Frenchman Gael Monfils in their first reverse singles match of the day. In the opening match of the Davis Cup final, Djokovic easily thrashed Gilles Simon in straight sets to keep the hopes alive for his country. When compared to Monfils, Djokovic is a far better player. The Serbian enjoys and impressive 59-18 win/loss record this year.

As far as head-to-head records are concerned, then Djokovic leads with a 5-0 winning record against the Frenchman. Last time they met in the quarterfinal match of the US Open 2010, where Djokovic topped the Frenchman in straight sets with a 7-6(2) 6-1 6-2 scoreline.

Surely, the stats do not favour the Frenchman, but Monfils can certainly take some heart from the fact that he has been enjoying a good form lately. The Frenchman made it to the final of the Paris Masters this year after defeating Roger Federer in the semi-final. Monfils is ranked 12th in the world and the Frenchman has also made it to finals in Tokyo and Stuttgart and he as a 45-19 win/loss record this season.

TennisEarth’s Pick: Djokovic in four sets.