British Davis Cup stars all have same plan to take down Novak Djokovic and..

With Great Britain set to take on Serbia in the Davis Cup quarter-final next Thursday, team members both past and present expect that there will be a massive emphasis on the decisive doubles rubber. With Dan Evans forced to pull out after just weeks after he and Neal Skupski proved to be a winning pair, he has been replaced by former doubles No 1 Joe Salisbury. Express Sport exclusively spoke to three of GB’s top doubles players who all agreed that it is pivotal to have a strong duo as the squad faces a difficult singles rubber with Novak Djokovic on Serbia’s team.

When they meet on November 23, Britain and Serbia will contest two singles rubbers and, if they are split at one apiece, a decisive doubles clash. With Djokovic in the opposing team, one of GB’s squad members is all but guaranteed to face the 24-time Grand Slam champion in the second of the two singles matches.

Djokovic himself had previously singled out Dan Evans as a threat to Serbia’s chances before the world No 38 was forced to pull out after picking up a calf injury. He has since been replaced by Salisbury, who will likely partner Skupski if the tie comes down to the final doubles rubber. Salisbury, Skupski and former Davis Cup champion Jamie Murray exclusively spoke to Express Sport about the upcoming tie before Evans’ replacement was confirmed – with everyone in agreement that doubles could be crucial to getting the win.

“Obviously really important, I mean even more important than it used to be when you had four singles and a doubles,” new team member Salisbury said of doubles’ place in the overall Davis Cup format. “Now it’s only two singles, one doubles and often it comes down to the doubles to decide it so obviously it’s really important.”

Looking ahead to Britain’s task of beating Serbia, the former world No 1 explained: “It’s very tough. I mean, they’re probably the favourites for the Davis Cup obviously having Djokovic but then they’ve got a lot of other very strong players as well. I’m not sure how many but they’ve got a few other guys maybe top 50 so it’s really tough and we’re definitely up against it and they’re the favourites but you never know what can happen.”

Asked whether Djokovic’s presence could put extra pressure on the other singles match and the doubles rubber, the four-time men’s doubles Major winner added: “Yeah, it would do. You got to think, I mean you never know what’s going to happen but he [Djokovic] would be the huge favourite whoever he plays against so all the matches are super important but you’ve got to think that you probably have to win the other two.”

Neal Skupski – who, along with Evans, won the doubles match that booked Britain’s spot in the Final 8 – is hoping that a good pairing can get the job done if the first two singles matches are split. “Hopefully we can get that first point on the board and then whoever goes out against Novak can have a bit of a swing and play free and see what happens,” the world No 3 said.