Novak Djokovic announced on Tuesday that he is no longer working with Boris Becker. Of Djokovic’s 12 Grand Slam titles, six have come since he hired Becker to be part of his team in December of 2013.
The second-ranked Serb posted the following on Facebook: “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.”
Becker posted the following on his social media channels:
Thank U ! We had the time of our life …#teamdjokovic pic.twitter.com/n6uZRd4m1O
— Boris Becker (@TheBorisBecker) December 6, 2016
Djokovic’s dominance extended through the first half of this past season, during which he won the Australian Open and completed the career Grand Slam by triumphing at the French Open. But a post-Roland Garros slump combined with Andy Murray’s incredible hot streak resulted in the loss of the No. 1 ranking. Djokovic will be seeded second at the Aussie Open for just the second time in the span of five years.
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I guess we all saw that coming, I hope Novak finds what he is looking for.
What an idiot you are Novak. What an idiot.
Have not spent time delving into this story or speculating one way or another. No question that Boris Becker played a big part in getting Novak to lofty numbers. Novak also still has Marian Vajda going forward. I can’t help but think Novak was suffering from some serious burn-out by the time he won FO. Maybe after a good rest and making changes, he’ll be motivated again — I hope so.
Im after some rest and time to re-evaluate things RC, Novak will be fine, sometimes change is a good thing ….
That’s what many said about Rafa a long time ago. Hasn’t made it past a slam quarterfinal since.
Novak losing Becker could almost be as bad as Rafa sticking with Toni.
End result might be the same.
Novak’s goal next year is to “play at a good level”. That’s quite the bar he’s setting for himself.
Could be a great opportunity for Fed who’s always played (well) when the cats are away.
When they go back to playing on grass and clay he’ll be fine. He was just outclassed during the hardcourt season. His error-free play is very pretty but his serve is simply not as big as some of these other guys and so he has to earn all his wins and some surfaces/conditions are simply too fast for defense to really be as effective as it has been for him on the slower surfaces. Look for him to lose the Australian Open and have the announcers blame mental lapses and question his coaching decisions. His serve is slower. Hardcourt is a servers game.
Yeah partially. His serve has suffered due to shoulder problems.
However, a LOT more error prone and more inconsistent in his ground game is a factor.
As Becker said, the commitment wasn’t there after the French.
I think. Becker is right. Something changed in Novak after the French. He lost his focus and competitive desire. It seemed strange that Novak suffered a kind of burnout right at the pinnacle of his career, when he realized his dream of winning the career slam and also managed to win his fourth slam in a row.
I think it shows just how much it took out of Novak to accomplish that feat. No one has managed to win four slams in a row since Rod Laver. Since then Novak has just not been the same.
I don’t know that parting ways with Becker will make any difference, because the problem seems to be inside Novak.
I feel Djoko could be thinking ‘enough is enough’ after winning the FO. I suspect all along, that the physicality of it all (that of trying to win everything to catch up with Fedal, Fed in particular) has finally caught up with him. I do think Djoko has some injury issues that’s taking its toll on him.
He may have other issues of course hence he seeking the help from that Pepe guy. Perhaps he’s entering the stage where he now feels he should just enjoy playing tennis out there and when it’s good enough, he can win some titles, not unlike what Fed and now Rafa is doing.
Deja Rafa all over again.
#Yogi
i don’t know what’s wrong with nole but for the first time since 2011 i feel he may not win a slam next year. i really hope he’s not going down the road of communing with pepe the love and peace guru….that’s a road to nowhere. amazing the fall off for him after being so dominant. with rafa there were big reasons to do with repetitive injury just killing him mentally. feel like nole has kind of lost the plot…
big hole at the top of the atp right now…
Novak’s always been a bit of a lost soul while Rafa’s basically a happy guy. It seems like Novak got to the top, accomplished all his tennis goals and then found out it didn’t make him happy. I believe there were some personal problems, too. He’s searching for happiness. Rafa knows that real happiness is with friends and family and in the work he does to reach his goals. Winning a tournament, any tournament, he’s said, is good for a week or two of happiness.
Praying, praying, praying…
http://www.ubitennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Djokovic-Imaz.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g43cWPNBMU0
#HappierTimes
Boris is the reason Novak got to where he is, without Boris he would have likely finished with about 8 slams, and fewer Masters titles. His serve, return and timing were sizzling for a good part of 2015, and he played a lot of big points very well. Now I know he was excellent in 2011 with Vajda alone, but the effect of that tapered off by 2012, and he was losing a lot of big matches.
If Novak does not want to win much anymore, then this decision is good for all parties involved. But if he thinks he can regain his former success by dropping Boris, then he’s deluded. The problem wasn’t Boris, it was him.
Nah, without Becker, Djoko could win 5 slams, 2 WTF, 11 Masters, 23 titles and being YE 1 for two consecutive years, from 2011 to 2013 amidst a stronger field when the big four were the big four. He won only one slam a season in 2012 and 2013 not because he wasn’t playing well at the slams (he made three finals and one SF during each season of 2011-2013) but because of tougher competition from his fellow big four.
Becker joined Djoko’s team at back end of 2013 and in 2014 Rafa had his back injury, wrist injury and appendicitis and played for half the season in 2014, ceding back the no.1 ranking to Djoko. The field in 2015 was relatively weak compared to 2011/2012 when the big four were still strong, and so it’s not surprising that Djoko, being the best player around could capitalize on it to win three slams and reached all finals at the slams. IMO, 2011Djoko > 2015 Djoko but results wise 2015> 2011 because in 2015 the big four were no longer what they used to be.
Djoko did improve under Becker’s tutelage – he volleys better, times his move to the net better, more competent at the net than before, serves better and as a result more confident in his own game.
Becker’s contributions to Djoko’s game were 1) instill some belief in Djoko that he could beat his fellow big four at the slams esp in the finals; 2) helped Djoko to his second and third Wimbledon titles beating Fed in the final, with improved skills playing on grass, and 3) helped Djoko to stay focused to win the FO finally and achieved four in row/career slams.
Becker had no control over the field during 2014-2016 and it happened that the field was weakened with Rafa not being ‘full time’ and Murray slowly climbing back up the rankings after his back surgery. Had Rafa not being injured in 2014, my guess is he’s good enough to retain the no.1 ranking and might continue his good form into 2015 and so retained the FO title. Would Djoko then beat Rafa so often in 2015 right up to 2016? If Rafa was fit and healthy in 2014 right up to 2015 and remained as Djoko’s main rival, would Becker be able to help Djoko overcome Rafa? I’m not sure about that.
So, while Becker did contribute and help Djoko to win more slams, I’m not sure that without Becker, Djoko couldn’t win at the slams, maybe just one or a couple less perhaps? Becker is/was there at the right place and at the right time I feel, of course channeling some positive energy.
Of course, my point was that Boris gave Novak an extra edge, and made a difference when it was sorely needed. The effect of 2011 had worn thin IMO, and it wasn’t quite until late 2014 that I thought we really saw what Boris brought to the Djokovic game and mental strength.
Id like to meet and meditate with the Guru, as i am a Hippy Chick anyway, and its great for finding inner peace, relaxes the mind from everyday stresses, even though im a die hard Rafa fan, i think ive got way more in common with Nole, but i digress if Novak is looking for inner peace and spiritual enlightenment then Pepe will be right up his street(works for me), but if hes looking to win big titles then he needs a coach to get his head straight, and get him motivated again, im pretty sure he will bounce back and win the AO though and all will be OK with the world again ….
well i practice qi gong and tai chi alison, and meditate..all that is great for the mind and body but i dont believe communing with pepe is going to help nole one iota in terms of winning tennis matches. quite the reverse. don’t think he will win ao either i’m afraid….
i see from rc’s posts that it’s your birthday..many happy returns of the day alison! hope this coming year will be good for you in all ways….!
Alison…I left you a happy birthday message on the non-tennis forum…it was 2 minutes late (after midnight on the 8th) or 9:30 pm my time on your bday Dec. 7 ?
I live in the wrong hemisphere!
Amy damn shame we dont live near each other, as i also do Qi Gong and Tai Chi, meditate etc, we could be great friends, about the AO whether he wins it next year remains to be seen, but he will still be the favorite there, but probably not the great favorite anymore, even if he doesnt win the AO all is not lost, he actually lost to Stan in 2014, and although he lost to Rafa at the FO, he still went on to win W, so hes still there or there abouts, i wish i could say the same for Rafa….
Cheers also for the birthday greetings, it was yesterday, but had a nice day though, quiet but nice ;-)) ….
oh sorry i misunderstood the date alison…glad you had a good day…i can still wish you all good things for the year ahead though!
yes pity we don’t live closer! i don’t really know east anglia where you live although friends say it is beautiful….great for bird watching apparently…i love birds…
Amy thankyou very much, i enjoyed my birthday, but they are pretty much all the same now lol, anyway i live in Anglia a seaside down, which is busy in the summer with holiday makers, but quiet this time of the year, and there are plenty of bird watchers, although my hobby is metal detecting when the weather is nice ….
just found out entirely by chance that you have the same birthday as tom waits alison! thought you might like to know…that’s good company to be keeping..tom waits is a big favourite on here..
RC Yeah seen it cheers darling, ive left you a message, many thanks, beautiful song 😉 ….
RC, BTW i did a link here which you saw, and a picture on TX, but im still struggling though, i think i need more practice 😉
Yeah thats great Amy 😉