Novak Djokovic won’t have long to enjoy his Australian Open title as Davis Cup play begins Friday. (Dita Alangkara/AP)

Davis Cup

The first round of Davis Cup kicks off this weekend and, yes, the No. 1 player in the world and recently crowned Australian Open champion is in action. The draws take place Thursday and play begins Friday through the weekend. Here are the ties to watch:

• Spain vs. Canada (Vancouver, British Columbia): A depleted Spanish squad goes to Vancouver without five of its top six players, making this a winnable matchup for Milos Raonic and Co. Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez are skipping the tie, which means Spain will be led by No. 32 Marcel Granollers and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in singles and Granollers and Marc Lopez in doubles. Those are two favorable singles matches for the 15th-ranked Raonic, especially on the quick indoor court in the Thunderbird Sports Arena, which means this could come down to the doubles. Expect the home crowd to get loud and rowdy. Tickets sold out in just 80 minutes.

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The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet.

• Video: See? I told you the match between Novak Djokovic and Radek Stepanek would have some exo-worthy moments.

• Andy Murray hits back against ex-pro Christophe Rochus’ claim that it’s impossible to play back-to-back grueling five-set matches without performance-enhancing drugs.

“When guys play five or six hours in the slams, we have a day’s rest. I was told that after our semi-final here last year [which ran only 10 minutes short of five hours], Novak [Djokovic] didn’t practise on the day off, didn’t hit a ball, didn’t get out of bed till three o’clock.

“Providing you put the work in, it doesn’t mean it hurts any less when you have to play a couple of days after a five-hour match. But I would not say it is impossible.”

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Maria Sharapova (left) and Venus Williams will meet in the third round of the Australian Open. (Getty Images)

Storylines and matches to watch on Day 5 of the Australian Open (click here for the order of play):

• Rivalries revisited: In intriguing third-round matches, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams headline the night session on Rod Laver Arena, while Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic turn back the clock (hopefully) to resurrect the rivalry that once determined the No. 1 ranking. “You certainly know what she’s capable of,” Sharapova said of Williams. “But when you’re out on the court, you’re not thinking how many titles she’s won or how experienced she is. You’re thinking about what you need to do to step it up in a certain situation and win as many points as you can.”

• The Steps and Djoker Show: Novak Djokovic is in such prime form that he’s an overwhelming favorite to continue his roll against the 34-year-old Czech Davis Cup hero, Radek Stepanek. But Stepanek loves to entertain the crowd, and if he gets down in this match, you can fully expect these two to drop into exhibition mode. Could be fun.

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The good news is we’ve been saved from the neon flood that overtook the Australian Open last year, when designers somehow thought the brighter the colors the better. The bad news is the needle seems to have swung the other way, with some conservative designs still missing the mark. From food stains to spirographs to recycled looks, some surprising names make this year’s list of Australian Open fashion misses. (Click here for my fashion hits.)

Maria Sharapova: It’s never good when it looks like you’ve got a huge mustard stain on your chest. (Barbara Walton/EPA/Landov)

Roger Federer: We make BTB history as this is the first time both Federer and Sharapova have been on the fashion miss list. But we’ve seen this color combo too many times. In fact, it’s basically an updated version of the same kit Federer wears in that Rolex commercial ESPN keeps airing. Recycling is a fashion no-no. (Schreyer/Imago/Icon SMI)

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Agnieszka Radwanska (left) fell to Victoria Azarenka in three sets in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. (Greg Wood/AFP/Getty Images)

The BTB Awards are our look back at the best — and worst — of the tennis season. Today we revisit the feuds that kept us entertained throughout the year. As the old tennis adage goes, love means nothing. 

2012 IN REVIEW: Report Card | Surprises | Meltdowns | Shots | Best Slam? | Quotes | Photos | Videos | Fashion | Breakthroughs

• Victoria Azarenka vs. Agnieszka Radwanska: If this feud had a soundtrack, it would be the Dandy Warhols’ We Used to be Friends. Azarenka spent the first two months of the season wreaking havoc on Radwanska on the court, beating her with relative ease at their first four tournaments of the year, in Sydney, the Australian Open, Doha and Indian Wells. By March, Radwanska, arguably the second hottest player behind Azarenka to start the year, admitted she was in no mood for a rematch. “I hope maybe not next week,” Radwanska said after losing to Azarenka in Indian Wells.

But we’re here to talk about their off-court spat. In Doha, Azarenka appeared to roll her ankle badly and spent a good portion of the match hobbling through points and grimacing. Despite the injury, Azarenka went on to win 6-2, 6-4, leading to a very cold handshake that stemmed from Radwanska’s feeling that Azarenka had overexaggerated the injury to gain a mental edge.

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The BTB Awards are our look back at the best — and worst — of the tennis season. Today we open up the scrapbook to present 20 of the most iconic, poignant and downright funny pictures of the year. Everybody say cheese!

[2012 IN REVIEW: Report Card | Surprises | Meltdowns | Shots | Ranking the Slams | Quotes]

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, Australian Open: No doubt the most memorable picture from 2012.  (Greg Wood/AFP/Getty Images)

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Radek Stepanek won the decisive rubber to lift the Czech Republic over Spain in the Davis Cup final. (Getty Images)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. This week saw the Czech Republic defeat Spain for the Davis Cup crown.

Hopman Cup? Czech. Fed Cup? Czech. Davis Cup? Czech.

It’s been an incredible year for the Czech Republic, which has a storied tennis tradition dating to the days of Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova, as the nation has dominated the international team competitions in 2012. As a bevy of Czech legends watched, including Lendl and Jana Novotna, the two-man team of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek brought home the Davis Cup title with a pure display of teamwork.

Radek Stepanek: A-plus. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea. You either love Stepanek’s flair for the dramatic or you think it’s unnecessary gamesmanship. His penchant for wearing shirts with lions on them is either endearing or a complete and utter eyesore. And you can find his game, which is built on an attacking style that looks to finish at the net, a breath of fresh air or a relic. But it’s unlikely you’ll find many fans who have no opinion of Stepanek. He loves the stage, the crowd and the occasion. And that’s why he’s now a national hero.

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Tomas Berdych (right) had a few choice words about Nicolas Almagro leading up to the Davis Cup final. (AP)

The most notable news coming out of the draw for this weekend’s Davis Cup final between the Czech Republic and Spain is that Spanish captain Alex Corretja opted to use Nicolas Almagro as Spain’s number two option behind David Ferrer, as opposed to Feliciano Lopez. Ferrer will open the competition on Friday against Radek Stepanek, followed by Almagro against the Czech’s No. 1, Tomas Berdych.

Berdych has already spent a part of the week engaging in the rarest of tennis activities: trash-talking the competition. Berdych had no problem reminding everyone that he holds an 8-3 record over Almagro, beating him in four of their five meetings this year.

“I played faced Almagro many times this year and won most of them,” Berdych said. “If he’s nominated, he will be the weak point on which we can build our victory. He’s missing that little something that distinguishes great players [from the rest]. He’s won smaller tournaments this year. But he always has a chance if he plays.”

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Novak Djokovic took down Andy Murray in the Shanghai Masters to win his ATP-leading 70th match of the season. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. This week, Novak Djokovic emerged from a stacked field at the Shanghai Masters and Victoria Azarenka blitzed the field in Linz.

Novak Djokovic: A-plus. How good of a week was it for Djokovic? His resilient comeback victory over Andy Murray in the Shanghai final was only one of a series of achievements. By making the final, Djokovic became only the second active player to do so in all nine of the current ATP Masters 1000 tournaments as well as the four Grand Slams. The other? Roger Federer. But if catching Federer on that metric wasn’t enough, the Serb’s Shanghai title moved him past Federer as the first player to win seven of the current Masters 1000 titles. This may just be one of the most underrated accomplishments of Djokovic’s career. (That can happen when, you know, you go on a 46-match winning streak). The only two Masters shields eluding him are Monte Carlo — aka Rafa’s sandbox — and Cincinnati. Given his hard-court prowess and the fact that he’s made the final of Cincy four of the last five years, it’s hard not to think he has eight in the cards.

Needless to say, it was a strong two weeks for Djokovic, who won back-to-back titles in Beijing and Shanghai and closed within a mere 195 points of Federer’s No. 1 ranking. It couldn’t have gone any better for the 25-year-old, who’ll get two weeks off before the final push at the Paris Masters and World Tour Finals.

Victoria Azarenka: A. After all these years of WTA No. 1s who must go out of their ways every week to prove that they deserve their spot in the penthouse, how nice it is to see Azarenka take her No. 1 ranking and practically shove it in our faces. One week after winning Beijing without dropping a set, Azarenka rolled through the Linz field to tie Serena Williams with her sixth title of the year. How’s this for domination: Azarenka has lost an average of just under two games per set since the U.S. Open.

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