Analysis for Djokovic-Youzhny (Davis Cup)

Head-to-head record 1:2

Mikhail Youzhny of Russia is going to the biggest male tennis star of 2008, Novak Djokovic of Serbia in Davis Cup. Our loyal subscribers already know that we often back on Youzhny, so no one will be surprised we guess. Mikhail is an offensive player who loves fast surfaces. He often employs a single-handed backhand, which we consider to be his best shot. From both sides, Youzhny hits the ball on the rise to achieve a flatter flight trajectory and to get the ball to the opponent's side quicker. He has a good court sense and often makes use of dropshots to mix up the rallies. Youzhny is often able to draw his energy from the engaged crowd to produce a series of risky winners. That’s why the Davis Cup crowd should help him in this match. Furthermore, he is in a great shape right now (he has the second best YTD record from all players – 9 wins/1 losses). His first tournament of 2008 was Chennai, winning it by demolishing Nadal 6-0, 6-1 in less than an hour of play. He was also impressive at 2008 Australian Open and we hope he can be competitive against Djokovic on Friday. There is no doubt that Djokovic is one of the biggest talents in the world of tennis. He has had a stellar season so far which enabled him to gain closer on Rafael Nadal in the ATP Tour Rankings. However, the end of his last season was a bit confusing. He was upset by David Nalbandian, Fabrice Santoro, David Ferrer, Rafael Nadal or Richard Gasquet during the last few weeks of 2007. His weakness point is his inconsistency and relatively low experience. His style of play is suited to all surfaces and we can rate him as an all-court player. He has great groundstrokes, especially forehand which is powerful, deep, well angled, and hit with strong topspin. With excellent speed, serve is one of his major weapon. Djokovic, on the other hand, while very sound and powerful from the baseline, often finishes points by coming to the net. Despite of all the Djokovic´s weapons, we would say that Youzhny is more stable than his opponent and his odds above 2.8 are worth trying.