With Serbia crippled by injuries and suspensions, all eyes will be on Novak Djokovic to lead his country to its second Davis Cup title against the defending champion Czech Republic. The second-ranked Serb, who is on a 22-match unbeaten run, has to do what he has done numerous times in the past: win both singles matches to give the small Balkan country a chance in the best-of-five series starting Friday. However, Serbias chances were hit Thursday when Janko Tipsarevic was ruled out of the final with a heel injury. Serbia will also miss Viktor Troicki, the star of the 2010 Davis Cup home victory over France. Troicki is out because of a 12-month suspension for skipping a blood test in April. Thursdays pitted Djokovic against Radek Stepanek and Tipsarevics replacement, Dusan Lajovic, against Tomas Berdych in Fridays opening singles. The doubles are scheduled for Saturday and reverse singles are Sunday. "Its a real drawback for our team that we dont have both Janko and Viktor," Djokovic said. "I hope that I can win the first match, the first point is very important as it could release pressure on Lajovic." The 117th-ranked Lajovic has played only one dead rubber in the Davis Cup, and has no major victories against top players on the ATP Tour. "Im very excited that Ill play on Friday," the 23-year-old Lajovic said. "With the support of the crowd, I could maybe surprise Berdych." Berdych said he has never watched Lajovic play and will try to adjust to his game. "I will do some scouting before the match," Berdych said. "It is good that this is a best-of-five match and Ill have time to adjust." Berdych, who has a 13-1 record in Davis Cup doubles with Stepanek, predicted the doubles will decide the winner. Djokovic said that although he has not played many doubles matches in recent years, he would be ready on Saturday if needed. First, though, he has to focus on the match against Stepanek before deciding whether he would play all three matches in the final. "Stepanek is a very tricky player," Djokovic said of the Czech veteran. "He likes to rush to the net and change rhythm of the match." Stepanek said the fact that hes not favoured to win against Djokovic may help his play. "Im looking forward to it," Stepanek said. "My advantage is that no one expects me to beat Novak." Djokovic has won his last four tournaments, including the ATP finals in London, where he beat top-ranked Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-4 in the final on Monday. The Czechs are in the final for the third time in five years. Mike Alstott Jersey .com) - The Boston Bruins announced Monday that the team has signed goaltender Niklas Svedberg to a one-year contract. Custom Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys . Sami Vatanen had a goal and an assist and Anaheim used a four-goal first period to extend their winning streak to six games with a 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night. http://www.authenticbuccaneerspro.com/Le...caneers-jersey/. Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone dismissed Tuesdays massive anti-government protest in Manama as "a lot of kids having a go at the police." "I dont think its anything serious at all," Ecclestone was quoted as saying in The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys . UEFA said Wednesday that the champions of England and France only have to include five home-trained players in their 21-man squads next season instead of the expected eight. Only one of the five players needs to be trained by the club itself. John Lynch Jersey .com)LeBron clearly likes his Italian sports cars, and thats ok with me, so up next up is the 458 Spider.Jake Peavy can give the San Francisco Giants a commanding lead in the World Series on Wednesday when he takes the ball for Game 2 against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Its been a tale of two seasons for Peavy, who was just 1-9 with a 4.72 ERA and 20 home runs allowed in 20 starts for Boston before he was traded to the Giants. Since hes been in San Francisco, though, reunited with former manager Bruce Bochy, Peavy has resembled the pitcher who won an NL Cy Young Award with the San Diego Padres in 2007. Peavy pitched to a 2.17 ERA and won six of his 12 starts with the Giants after the late-July deal. Hes also carried that into the postseason, surrendering just two earned runs in 9 2/3 innings in two starts. The 33-year-old hurler will try to follow another marvelous outing from Madison Bumgarner in Game 1 on Tuesday. Bumgarner continued to cement his status as the best postseason pitcher in baseball on Tuesday in Game 1, as he gave up one run over seven innings and the Giants rolled past Kansas City, 7-1. Hunter Pence provided the offense with a two-run home run and Pablo Sandoval reached base safely for the 24th straight postseason game with an RBI double in the first inning. San Francisco has now won seven straight World Series games. The winner of Game 1 has gone on to win 10 of the last 11 World Series and 15 of the past 17, with 2002 (San Francisco defeating Anaheim) and 2009 (Philadelphia defeating New York) being the lone exceptions. However, the last five road teams to win Game 1 have lost Game 2. Bumgarners only mistake was a two-out home run to Royals catcher Salvador Perez in the seventh inning, which ended his MLB-record scoreless innings sstreak on the road at 32 2/3 frames.dddddddddddd It was just about going out and making pitches and executing, Bumgarner said. I know thats a boring answer, but for me, thats all it is, is Im just trying to make pitches and take all that other stuff and push it aside and just concentrate on moving the ball around, getting ahead, and getting outs and getting us back in the dugout. The Royals saw their postseason winning streak come to an end at 11 games, as they fell for the first time in nine tries in these playoffs. We didnt expect to come in here and sweep the San Francisco Giants, Royals manager Ned Yost said. We knew that this was a series that was going to go deep. We know how tough they are. They swung the bats really well. The Royals, meanwhile, will turn to 23-year-old rookie Yordano Ventura, who has been battling some shoulder issues. He left his ALCS start versus the Orioles with tightness in his right shoulder after allowing four runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. After pitching to a 3.20 ERA during the season, Ventura has allowed seven runs in 13 innings this postseason. Of course, Ventura almost ended the Royals postseason chances when he served up a three-run home run in relief of Shields in Kansas Citys wild card game. He bounced back with a marvelous ALDS effort against the Los Angeles Angels, though, before being roughed up by the Os. For me, another thing I focus on is to live day by day, Ventura said with Game 3 starter Jeremy Guthrie serving as his translator. Really, what happened (against) Oakland, I had moved past that. These teams actually met in the regular season, as the Royals completed a three-game sweep at Kauffman Stadium. ' ' '