“It is already happening” Novak Djokovic opposes Nick Kyrgios to welcome ATP’s off-court coaching rule

Novak Djokovic was asked about the ATP’s new rule of the introduction of on-court coaching after his second-round match with Thanasi Kokkinakis at Wimbledon 2022. Djokovic eased onto the familiar grass at SW19 as he began his quest for a seventh Wimbledon title and his third consecutive title defense in London. The tennis federations decided to trial run the off-court coaching, where the player would get a few moments to communicate with their coach about the strategies.

Like many big changes, this was also greeted with a lot of questions and different point of views. Many players like Nick Kyrgios believed that this would undermine the uniqueness of the sport where the person tries to figure out the challenges on-court all by himself. There are also the opposing views that the players who cannot afford for their coach to travel with them or those who don’t have a full-time coach will be severely disadvantaged due to this rule. Many players including Djokovic accepted the fact that this was already happening in most of the games, so it was good for the federations to try it out officially.

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Novak Djokovic understands the sentiments of both sides in off-court coaching but still believes this is the way to go.

Djokovic elaborated on his statement in the support of off-court coaching. He said: “Maybe I’m leaning more towards the introduction of coaching but I have to admit that I’m divided because I understand the arguments on both sides. We, on the tour, know that this already happens in 90% of cases, there are signs and communication. Now it will be regulated, that is, to make it official, with certain conditions. I also understand the other side. Nick Kyrgios is one of those who pointed out that it kills the uniqueness of our sport. Alone, you fight, find solutions. I understand that as well. We know this is already happening, so let’s make sure that’s the rule.”

It’s a very big change for the tennis world and the players as well as the federation would like to see how this affects the games of the players because making off-court coaching official would be helpful in numerous incidents where the coaches have helped the players between the matches.

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