Former coach Boris Becker offered some indirect advice to Novak Djokovic shortly after it was announced on Tuesday that they are no longer working together. Djokovic and Becker split up following a three-year partnership that resulted in six of the Serb’s 12 Grand Slam titles.
Although Djokovic dominated the first half of 2016 with major wins at the Australian Open and the French Open, he slipped to No. 2 in the world behind Andy Murray due to a post-Roland Garros slump. That coincided with Murray winning eight of his last 10 tournaments, including the World Tour Finals–where the top spot all came down to the final match between Murray and Djokovic.
The six-time Australian Open champion will be seeded second Down Under next month for the second time in the last five years.
“He didn’t spend as much time on the practice court in the last six months as he should have, and he knows that,” Becker said of Djokovic. “Success like this doesn’t happen by pushing a button. Success like this doesn’t just happen by showing up at a tournament. You have to work your bottom off because the opposition does the same.
“He has got to go back to work. He has to go back to the office and practice these hours and refocus on what made him strong in the first place.”
Djokovic posted the following on Facebook earlier this week to announce the decision: “After three very successful years, Boris Becker and I have jointly decided to end our cooperation. The goals we set when we started working together have been completely fulfilled, and I want to thank him for the cooperation, teamwork, dedication and commitment. On the other hand, my professional plans are now directed primarily to maintain a good level of play, and also to make a good schedule and new goals for the next season. In this regard I will make all future decisions.”
“It was mutual,” Becker added. “A decision like this does not happen overnight. It is a progress,” he told Sky News. “I think the last six months have been challenging on many levels. Our hands were tied a little bit because we couldn’t do the work we wanted to do.”
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Boris copies Rafa: practice, practice and practice… ?
Boris was around a long time before rafa. And to give credit where credit is due Lendl pioneered the modern work ethic in Tennis. Not too big a coincidence that he happens to be coaching the current #1 Andy Murray.
BTW, it’s an internal joke about Rafa trying to solve all his problems with more practice…nothing against Boris although I am pleased Novak got rid of that gambler..never liked him anyway…
I read in the Serbian press Novak is considering bringing Halep’s coach Darren Cahill to the team! I think that would be a great choice if happened! Smart move, Nole!
Natashao (AT 12:24 PM),
I have noticed that some Djoko fans posting on the Grandstand have mocked Rafa for practicing.
nats, I hear that Rafa is now pre-practicing before practicing to improve his practicing.
Hawkeye just curious, but i always thought Rafa was your favorite player ? ….
By FAR my Fav.
But we can’t take it so seriously Willow. 🙂
I just have some fun with so much talk about his practicing and (lack of) hair.
But he’s the GOAT in my books. And that’s a fact!
(Novak is getting close to GOATdom though.)
BTW, I was elina on TX, you might have seen me vigorously defending Rafa there.
And I am a tennis fan first and foremost.
Huge fan of Rafa’s game and his spirit.
Couldn’t give a monkey’s about his hair, sponsors, twitter, facebook, kit, practise, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada.
Also, one can criticize and still be a fan!
VAMOS!!!
Better to practise than not to; see what happened to Djoko when he didn’t want to practise?
Anyway Rafa and Djoko are good enough whether they have a coach or not. They’re already ATGs so they know what it takes for them to win big titles. I believe they can address whatever issues they have if they still have desire to win.
I think Nole is following Rafa’s current path except Rafa has a two year head start.
Not too late for Nole but the warning signs are concerning.
Hawkeye lets just say, i had my suspicions, you always did sound familiar ;-)….
Hawkeye DITTO, i dont care for private lives, or whether players are single, married, gay, straight, whatever, i dont even care for GOATDOM either, too many different caveats to that topic, i always prefer the idea that we have a number of all time greats instead, and i have critiqued all the players, even my favorites if i feel its warranted, i have nothing against Novak, its just his annoying fan base on a certain forum i wont mention, that are beyond irritating now, they are a pretty cool bunch here though i have to say 😉
(Just between you and me, I don’t believe in GOAT either. Just my way to challenge those that make such a big deal about Fed when people first started talking about it. Don’t tell anyone, ok?)
The true nature of Mastery is to make it look easy, and by that measure nobody made dominance look easier for longer than RF. I understand he is no longer the best player on the tour, but it is hard to justify any other answer to the question of who was the GOAT in his prime.
His competition made it look extremely easy from 2003-07.
Didn’t look so easy after that.
And yes, agreed, he WAS goat.
How did Fed make it look easy? When I see/saw him play I never got the sense that he was having easy time out there unless it’s vs low ranked players or some players he owned all along.
He certainly had struggled against Nalby all along; Haas gave him a tough fight at the AO and on grass; Safin at the AO one year; even old man Agassi put up a tough fight vs Fed. Not to mention the arrival of Rafa in 2004/2005 and from then Rafa made life difficult for Fed.
Fed’s greatest problems on the tennis courts are the super fast players who could retrieve and counterpunch all day; and the great ones who could turn defense into offense so very quickly. The arrival of the trio of Rafa, Djoko and Murray had started to make Fed’s tennis looked not so easy out there! Fed had/has to run so much playing against them!
In 2008 we saw a Simon starting to make life difficult for Fed. Fed always had hard time playing against Simon, who pushed Fed to the limit almost always and Fed had to go the distance to beat him. Lately Monfils was another super fast retriever who gave Fed plenty of problems at the slams and at some Masters.
Have previoualy talked about fast players with sick retrieving skills being a problem for Fed. If anyone has doubts, watch Fed’s matches versus Guillermo Canas in IW 2007 and Miami 2007. He beat fed in back to back tournaments. Just see the highlights and you will see how he inflicted damage.
Federer was being pummelled by Nadal during the height of his dominance, and they met enough times mind you. Also, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have all had the benefit of the change in the seeding system, makes it much easier to peak at the right time during tournaments. In any case doesn’t belong in the category of players who made it look easy against everyone during his dominant years. Since the 90s, that distinction would have to remain with Sampras, Nadal, and Djokovic.
Oh I missed out Delpo. From 2009 onwards, Delpo also made life difficult for Fed esp at the FO, and even beat Fed on his home soil at Basel (though Fed was already in his 30s).
PS. Come to think of it, Rafa’s generation of players are really something – two ATGs with > 10 slams; two with 3 slams; two giants with 1 slam each. All have beaten the greatest of the previous generation even though only the two ATGs have winning H2H over him.
@Lucky
Nothing but admiration for your technical analyses and encyclopaedic knowledge of of tennis.
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whoops. Gave my full name instead of username. Hope this will be changed
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Probably also helped that he was on Steroids at the time…
Federer?
No Canas. He was suspended the next year if I remember correctly.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2005-08-08-canas-suspended_x.htm
On Federer’s birthday, ironically enough…
Oh ok, noted.