Tipsarevic fears being dropped after Monfils horror show

Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic said he would not be surprised to be dropped for Sunday’s Davis Cup final reverse singles after a crushing 6-1 7-6 6-0 defeat by Gael Monfils handed France a 1-0 lead on Friday.

“Honestly, I don’t know whether I should play and what to expect, it’s up to team captain Bogdan Obradovic,” Tipsarevic told a press conference after the Frenchman blew him away in just two hours and three minutes.

“I will also speak to (Serbia’s number three player) Viktor Troicki and see how he feels after Saturday’s doubles, hopefully we will head into that 1-1,” he added.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic was playing Gilles Simon in Friday’s other singles rubber after Tipsarevic committed 38 unforced errors in what he called one of his worst performances.

Monfils, in contrast could hardly miss, firing winners almost at will after appearing to hit the right button when he said on Thursday Tipsarevic would struggle to deal with the pressure in front of a success-hungry home crowd.

“I had never before started the match with a pair of double faults, I was nervous and it’s not surprising the crowd never really got going because I gave them very little to cheer about,” Tipsarevic said.

“Stage fright is not the main reason for my bad performance though, quite simply I lost to a better player today and all credit to Monfils.

“Whatever happens, I am fit and ready to play on Sunday if the tie goes down the wire and my confidence is not shattered, but we have to talk it over and see what’s best for the team.”

Nenad Zimonjic and Troicki will team up for Serbia to play Arnaud Clemont and Michael LLodra in Saturday’s doubles while Djokovic meets Monfils in Sunday’s opening reverse singles.