The saying is, behind every success there is an unseen hardwork, sacrifice, and persistence. For Novak Djokovic all this came with his ex coach, Boris Becker. The six time Grand Slam champion who stepped on the board the coaching team of Djokovic in year 2014 and significantly influenced Novak and rest is history.
Boris Becker’s brutally honest assessment with Novak Djokovic that helped the Serb turn into an indefatigable champion with nerves of steel.
Boris and Stefan Edberg, former arch rivals came together to chat with Mats Wilander on Eurosport’s vodcast ‘Tennis Legends’.
While Edberg spoke of his tryst with Federer, Becker recalls his successful stint of coaching the current world No.1 Boris Becker played a major role in helping Novak Djokovic change his attitude towards big matches.
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“I started with mentally, ultimately it’s about attitude and then how to approach big matches… He had lost his way, he had lost a couple of big finals to Rafa and to Roger, so he was mentally down,” said Boris.
Becker told Eurosport, “I thought his court positioning was a little off. I thought his old approach was a bit too passive to defend. If he let these guys overtake him, and though guys do that, so it was a whole package.”
Becker further recalled those initial days when he uses to be on fhe sidelines during Novak’s matches against Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
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He said, “I remember the very first time when I was on the sideline and obviously Novak and Roger were big rivals. After the match it was very odd atmosphere in the locker room when you had two guys in the corner looking at each other, and Stefan and me chating back like it is a walk in the park.”
Unfortunately the two have now slipt up with mutual decision but two remain close associates till date.
“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 co-operation teamwork, dedication and commitment,” Djokovic statement read after the split of the two.
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