Djokovic and Agassi split

[Federberg]

I have to admit that I'm surprised by this. I thought Djokovic would have his caca together by now. Elbow injury aside, in June it'll be 2 years since he won the FO in 2016. That's a long time to be mired in a "slump" or to suffer from "burn out." Maybe he needs to do a McEnroe - and just walk away from the game for a year. Sure he'll be 32 IF he comes back, but is that really any worse than wasting all of this time just going through the motions?

Are you finally selling your Novak stock?

 

[Busted]

Sometimes not having a coach is a good thing too. It's clear there's a mental component to what Novak is going through right now. Perhaps some time alone will help him regain the perspective he needs. After that he’ll actually benefit from team relationships again. For now I’m not sure it’ll be constructive from what I’m observing

At this point not having someone else there giving him their opinion might be a good thing. It's not like he doesn't know how to play or how to win. He needs to figure out for himself how to CARE about winning or losing again. Because right now it doesn't seem like he cares very much or ENJOYS playing. Otherwise I think he needs to bring back Marian Vajda...who understands him and was on the same wave length.

 

[Busted]

I rather go with what you say above, though, about Novak being a gregarious fellow and benefitting from being surrounded by a team. Tennis is pretty lonely business. Roger did really well without a coach some years back, but he manufactures his own confidence, and he's always had Mirka as helpmate and travel companion. Rafa and Novak both to me seemed to like the team...folks you trust helping keep up your confidence and attitude. Who knows if time alone could help him...I'd would personally, though, guess no. And everyone seems to be forgetting Stepanek.

Roger also had his parents helping out and supporting him. Between Mirka and his parents they handled all of his business and foundation stuff before he hired Tony Godsick. It's not like Novak's buisness deals are in disarray though. To me this is strictly a psychological struggle between ego and id. He's clearly suffering from burnout whether he wants to say it out loud or not. His ego is telling him it's his elbow, lack of training, coaching conflicts, wife\kids\pets, etc.. His id knows it's his ego that's the problem. Basically - dude needs a sports shrink if he won't take a lengthy recuperative burnout break.

 

[Moxie]

Roger also had his parents helping out and supporting him. Between Mirka and his parents they handled all of his business and foundation stuff before he hired Tony Godsick. It's not like Novak's buisness deals are in disarray though. To me this is strictly a psychological struggle between ego and id. He's clearly suffering from burnout whether he wants to say it out loud or not. His ego is telling him it's his elbow, lack of training, coaching conflicts, wife\kids\pets, etc.. His id knows it's his ego that's the problem. Basically - dude needs a sports shrink if he won't take a lengthy recuperative burnout break.

Yes, I know that Roger has always had great emotional support, but that's kind of the point. As long as he was comfortable as he traveled, felt surrounded by those who love him most, he was fine without a coach for a long time. The tennis took care of itself. And even still, he's added coaches to mix over the years for a fresh voice.

As you say, no one knows what it is that Novak needs to get him back on the right track, but I would subscribe to your armchair analysis. I agree with you that it's burnout. He said after he lost to Daniels at IW that he misses competing. I think he misses enjoying competing. The passion is missing, or as @britbox says, "The Eye of the Tiger." If he's going to go coachless, particularly, I agree with you that he needs a sports therapist, and not just Pepe Imaz feeding him bromides.

 

[atttomole]

Is Pepe Imaz a clairvoyant?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I have a suggestion. Andy had a female coach. Why can't Novak try that? How about Deepika?

 

[Moxie]

Is Pepe Imaz a clairvoyant?

Is Pepe Imaz a huckster?

 

[Ricardo]

I have a suggestion. Andy had a female coach. Why can't Novak try that? How about Deepika?

Didn’t work out for Murray did it? Maybe he should hire Lendl who’s proven.

 

[Fiero425]

Didn’t work out for Murray did it? Maybe he should hire Lendl who’s proven.

Outside of mothers of top male players, I can only remember one successful collaboration of female coach/male player and that was 30 years ago with former Russian #1 Andrei Chesnokov! Lendl would be a good choice, but doubt he would take much out of his leisure time to help Nole out! Becker can't be rehired because I think "the Mrs." had everything to do with kickin' him to the curb being a bad influence on her husband! I'm starting to think Novak has hit the wall like Borg and emotionally just isn't into the game! He might be toast! We'll see how he handles the clay season! If he goes out in the 2nd Rd. of MC, he might need to reassess his willingness to continue as a pro! :cuckoo:

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Didn’t work out for Murray did it? Maybe he should hire Lendl who’s proven.

You missed the point of the post. It was not meant to be a serious suggestion.

 

[Moxie]

Maybe he should hire Lendl who’s proven.

Rumor is that Lendl may be taking on Sasha Zverev.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Toni Nadal has availability

 

[Federberg]

http://www.tennisworldusa.org/tenni...g-for-djokovic-says-former-davis-cup-captain/

http://www.tennisworldusa.org/tenni...ovic-and-agassi-wasn-t-good-bogdan-obradovic/

 

[Ricardo]

You missed the point of the post. It was not meant to be a serious suggestion.

So it’s meaningless, ok all good.

 

[isabelle]

Nole fired Stepanek too

 

[Chris Koziarz]

So ATM he shares a bit of his status with Nick who finds himself most comfortable be coachless.
We know (or at least suspect) why Nick is coachless: it's difficult for any coach to get along with a young, talented but naughty boy.

Novak is definitely more experienced than that. Although he may need to taste a little bit of such status at this point in his career he must realize it's always better to have someone who provides a different (experienced) opinion who will inspire him to keep his game evolving. So he'd better hire someone like that sonner rather than later because if he fails, and in more general fails to evolve his game, the rest of the field is going to quickly figure out the strategy against him as the "player on the spot", and at his ripe age, he'll never come back.

 

[Obsi]

 

[Denis]

Bloody hell, things have just been awful with Novak tennis-wise for almost 2 years now. What a mess. I hope Vajda can make him feel more like his old self at least.

 

[brokenshoelace]

I agree that coaching is not really the issue here with Novak, but I do think it can help all players at certain points in their career, even the greats. Sometimes having a different voice after many years is helpful. I think Ljubicic and Moya may deserve more credit than they get for Roger and Rafa's resurrections.

Indeed, they both do.

But let's look at what they've really done (and that is not to downplay their success, but rather to put it in perspective): Roger is more aggressive on second serve returns, has gone back to taking the ball consistently early and ending points quickly. Rafa is serving better (especially in 2017, not enough of a sample this year to judge), using his slider out wide more, occasionally stepping inside more on the return of serve, and generally being more aggressive from both wings, going for his inside out and DTL forehands more...

These are not huge adjustments (the effect they had were huge though). This is pretty much what everyone and their mother notes when watching them struggle. The reason I bring this up is, when it comes to great players, you seldom need a coach with a bunch of creative ideas who attempts big changes. In fact, I'd argue that Higueras, who tried to change too much in Roger's game (way too many drop shots on clay, and an overall kamikaze approach which backfired disastrously) and even Edberg (who had some success) tried to implement way too many changes in Roger's approach. We're talking about the most talented player ever and probably the most well-rounded. There isn't much that needs changing in his game. You don't need to come up with some gimmicky insane tactic with a cool name that looks awesome when it works but was by no means sustainable (SABR. Sorry, but as amazing as it is, half-volleying second serves from almost inside the service box is probably not the answer to a man's struggles).

Likewise, you don't need someone flattening out Nadal's groundies, or make him play an overly aggressive game that he's just never comfortable playing.

In both Fed and Rafa's cases, you just needed someone that A) helped them play their games as effectively as possible, B) help in very specific areas in which they had struggled with. Both Moya and Ljubicic were able to do that, and that's what sets them apart. I'll also give both credit for being able to establish a rapport with the player (though in Moya's case that wasn't difficult due to his friendship with Nadal), and finding a way to establish mutual respect and belief, which is often the most difficult part in a player/coach relationship.

The reason Toni Nadal and Rafa are the most successful player/coach combo in history isn't because Toni is the best coach in the world (he probably wouldn't be half as successful with another player). It's because with Rafa's well-documented doubts and insecurities, you needed a coach who truly understood them and managed to push Rafa to step outside his comfort zone (let's no forget how limited his game was early on) in-spite of those insecurities. I don't think any other coach could have done that because they simply wouldn't know Rafa like Toni does, and Rafa wouldn't "let them in" the way he would with his lifetime coach and uncle. That's why personalities are often more important than ideas when it comes to coaching in tennis. Nadal is a private guy. He wouldn't just let anyone into his entourage. That's a big reason why the Moya thing worked out so well. He's one of his best friends and like his uncle, knew him since he was a kid. In many ways he's also a mentor.

If you read some of Moya's comments, you can clearly see this is a guy who understands Rafa. I remember reading him say that Nadal is usually much more aggressive in practice and that he sometimes wishes Rafa brings the same attitude to the court more consistently. But I think Moya understands that this is just not Rafa's nature and he wouldn't push him too extremely outside his comfort zone, something that another coach might have attempted. Another coach, knowing that Nadal is theoretically capable of playing this way would probably not see why a player this good can't do this in matches, and might have pushed Nadal to play a game he's just not comfortable with, leading to some poor results in which Nadal is unsure in his approach.

And that's why so many of these high profile player/coach combinations don't work out. Often times, the coach is attempting to do too much because they are coaching a very talented player. I actually think that's an issue many coaches had with Federer (he can do it all, so they feel like they can try it all), and I have a feeling that's what happened with Agassi and Novak. I suspect Agassi's ideas were too extreme, and that in his mind, he didn't see any reason why Novak wouldn't be able to play the way he wants him to play, given how talented he is. A lot of these coaches have certain ideas and visions that are probably sound in their own heads, and think that just because they're going to coach a guy so good, that everything will work out fine. I mean, who can forget Todd Martin messing up Novak's serve almost beyond repair?

With these great players, you typically want something far less extreme.

 

[Moxie]

^ This is very well put about the issue of rapport/trust in the coaching relationship, and a coach who works within a player's comfort zone, even if they may have other 'capabilities.' Clearly, something was way off in the rapport part of the Djokovic/Agassi pairing. And some have said that Stepanek just wasn't experienced enough to coach. Hopefully, going back to Vajda can give Novak a voice he trusts and a place of security within which to work. It seems fairly clear he wants someone with him full-time and not just a part-time visitor and voice on the phone.