Same scold Djok spurs on Serbia

NOVAK DJOKOVIC guided Serbia to victory in their ATP Cup opener after seeing off South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in a repeat of the 2018 Wimbledon final.

But that didn’t tell the full story of Djokovic’s hardfought 7-6 7-6 victory over Anderson (below) in Brisbane after he argued with the umpire and scolded (above) the crowd.

Djokovic soon lost his cool and got into a lengthy argument with chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani after being denied an opportunity to challenge in the second set.

On the next point he furiously admonished the crowd for a disturbance during a rally.

He said: “What a way to start the year. I started off extremely well, was 4-1 up and had some break points but then Kevin upped his game. He was on fire tonight — the quality of tennis was quite high.

“I was very pleased with the way I kind of weathered the storm.” After a Dusan Lajovic win, a whitewash was completed thanks to Nikola Cacic and Viktor Troicki’s victory in the doubles.

World No.1 Rafael Nadal also won his singles match in straight sets as Spain got off to the perfect start by easing past Georgia in Group B.

There was another 3-0 win for Marin Cilic and Borna Coric over Dennis Novak and Dominic Thiem respectively, and a victory in the doubles, saw Croatia beat Austria in Group E.

The Japanese team sealed a convincing 3-0 Group B win over Uruguay.

Gael Monfils and Benoit Paire powered France to a 2-1 success against Chile in their opening Group A contest. Argentina beat Poland by the same scoreline.

GB, who lost to Bulgaria on Friday, need to beat Belgium today to stand any chance of avoiding an early exit from the new 24-team tournament.