By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Saturday, September 14, 2024

Novak Djokovic is a philanthropic force for educational efforts in Serbia.

Today, Djokovic delivered tennis tutorial before appreciative Belgrade fans.

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Olympic gold-medal champion Djokovic home-schooled Ioannis Xilas 6-0, 6-1, a 45-minute Davis Cup World Group I thrashing to put Serbia up 2-0 over Greece.

Earlier, Miomir Kecmanovic stopped Aristotelis Thanos 6-3, 6-3 staking Serbia to a 1-0 lead.

In his first match since falling to Alexei Popyrin at the US Open, Djokovic streaked through 11 consecutive games against the overwhelmed world No. 770.

Greece is playing this Davis Cup tie in Belgrade without its top player, Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is scheduled to play Laver Cup next weekend.

"I am proud of the whole team first of all for showing up even though Tsitsipas is not here, Stefanos’ brother is, but their main player is not here," Djokovic said. "So they are weakened in terms of the players who came here with the lower ranking. But nevertheless the full squad."

When Xilas hit an ace down the T to hold for 1-5 in the second set and avoid the dreaded double bagel, Serbian fans erupted in an ovation that left both Djokovic and the 23-year-old Greek smiling.

Djokovic drilled his fifth ace to cap the 45-minute blow-out. The Serbian superstar won 52 points compared to 16 for Xilas.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion improved his Davis Cup singles mark to 41-8.