ATP: How Marian Vajda Novak brought Djokovic back to the front again

Marian Vajda has led Novak Djokovic to the top of world tennis again. In an interview with the Berner Zeitung, ATP’s “Coach of the Year” describes how to get there.

Older sports fans will remember this, even if only in the dark: In the spring of 2018, Novak Djokovic looked very gloomy, with defeats against Taro Daniel in Indian Wells and Benoit Paire at the following ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami. Maybe these two failures were the last drops that made Djokovic bring almost the whole band together again – first of all Marian Vajda.

With his long-time coach, the now world number one again has started a remarkable run at the French Open at the latest after the quarter-final defeat against Marco Cecchinato, which only few opponents could stop: Stefanos Tsitsipas in Toronto, Karen Khachanov in Paris-Bercy and last Sunday Alexander Zverev at the ATP Finals in London.

But the turnaround came with the return of Vajda in April – who was mainly working on the mental component of his protégé. Gebhard Gritsch took care of the physical condition in a proven manner. In an interview with the Berner Zeitung, Marian Vajda now gave information about how he and Djokovic managed the turnaround.

Marian Vajda about …

… his most difficult task in 2018:

The most difficult thing for him was the comparison with the player he had once been. I had to stop those thoughts. That was my biggest challenge. Already on the first day he asked me: “Marian, how long will it take me to get back there?” I said, “What do you expect for an answer? I just got back. I’m not a magician.”

… on technical adaptations:

The movement on his serve was no longer true at all. Novak is a tinkerer, he wants to get better every day. And so he had changed a lot on the serve. I convinced him to return to the tried and true. I also like the development of his forehand very much.

… about the settlement with Roger Federer:

The match in Paris was very intense. Roger had the momentum, but in the decisive moments he lacked that certain extra. Novak’s 31, he’s 37. There’s a six-year difference. You can’t completely negate that.

The whole interview is here.