Longtime Serbian Davis Cup team member Nenad Zimonjic has been honored with the 2013 Davis Cup Award of Excellence. The award was presented during a special on-court ceremony at the 2013 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Final between Serbia and the Czech Republic in Belgrade, Serbia on Saturday, November 16. It was presented by ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti and Serbian tennis great Slobodan Zivojinovic, a past recipient of the award.

The annual award is given jointly by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and it recognizes a Davis Cup player, past or present, who demonstrates a strong commitment to the spirit of the competition.

At its regularly scheduled meeting in Cagliari, Italy, the ITF Board of Directors found that the Tunisian Tennis Federation was in breach of the ITF Constitution by interfering with international sporting practice and ordering Tunisian player Malek Jaziri not to compete against Israeli player Amir Weintraub at the 2013 Tashkent Challenger in October.

The Board was not satisfied with the case put forward by the Tunisian Tennis Federation and voted to suspend Tunisia from the 2014 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas competition. The decision of the ITF Board was unanimous although ITF Board Member from Tunisia, Tarak Cherif, recused himself from the discussion and the vote.

The Canadian Davis Cup team was defeated 3-2 by Serbia in their Davis Cup World Group semifinal on Sunday at the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia. Entering the day leading 2-1 after a thrilling five-set doubles victory on Saturday, Canada needed just one victory in the final two singles matches to clinch the tie. However, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic  defeated Milos Raonic 7-6(1), 6-2, 6-2 in the first match of the day to force a deciding fifth rubber where Vasek Pospisil fell to world No. 21 Janko Tipsarevic 7-6(3), 6-2, 7-6(6).

Raonic started the day against Djokovic with a very tight first set. After swapping breaks early, it went to a tiebreak where the world No. 1 picked up his game and captured the tiebreak by winning 7 of 8 points after 61 minutes of play. From there, it was all Djokovic as Raonic fought for every point, but his opponent was just too good, proving why he’s the top-ranked player in the world and winning the next two sets in an hour and seven minutes. The loss represents Raonic’s first in Davis Cup singles since falling to Amir Weintraub in the 2011 World Group play-off against Israel. He had been 8-0 in his last five ties, including Friday’s victory over Tipsarevic.

The Canadian Davis Cup team leads Serbia 2-1 after the second day of play in their Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group semifinal taking place on indoor clay at the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia. After a dramatic five-set win by Milos Raonic evened the tie at 1-1 late on Friday, the pair of Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil put Canada one step closer to victory with a dramatic win of their own on Saturday by defeating Serbian duo Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-7(6), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-8.

The match was tight from the start, with the teams swapping breaks to send it to a tiebreak. The Canadians had three set points in the tiebreak but the Serbians won five straight points to take the first set. Nestor then fought off two break points early in the second set and Canada went on to break their opponents in the next game to take a 3-2 lead. They held for the rest of the set to even the score.