In the back of his mind he would like to get back to the dominance he had in 2011.”Ī win over the hottest player on the men’s tour would be a good start. “But that is not up to his standard and he decided to include me in the team, to get some fresh ideas. 1 and winning one grand slam this year,” Fibak told The Daily Telegraph. “Somebody else might have been happy with being No. The Polish top-ten player from the 1970s mentored the young Ivan Lendl. Some of his ideas might verge dangerously close to being new-age mumbo-jumbo, but at least he is prepared to try new things.Ī good example is the hiring of Wojtek Fibak as his new assistant coach. Much of the text is devoted to his gluten-free diet, which he credits with his transformation from grand slam nearly-man to tennis’s top dog. This is also true of Djokovic, whose new book Serve To Win reveals a man hungry to realize every ounce of his potential. As John McEnroe observed last week, “The top guys are always figuring out ways to get 1 or 2% better.” “He was like: ‘What happened here, is there something different with this guy?'” “Djokovic was a little bit surprised how much speed came from Rafa in that match,” said Francis Roig, Nadal’s part-time coach. In Montreal last month, this was the key weapon in his semi-finals victory over Djokovic. In practical terms, this means fewer attritional cross-court rallies and more use of what is perhaps the most venomous ground-stroke in tennis - Nadal’s booming, dipping forehand down the line. He wants to keep the points shorter and avoid significant footslogging. To this end, he has amended his playing style to be more assertive. In his autobiography, he predicted that he will not be happy once his career is finished, hence he wants to eke every last drop of performance out of his body while he still can. Nadal’s resurgence is connected to his sense of mortality, which he felt more keenly after seven months at home. Realistically, though, he cannot afford to do so because Nadal - who is not defending any points for the rest of the season - would probably overtake him at the very next tournament. In fact, Djokovic will hold on, by a fingernail, even if he loses. The movie trailer plot-lines would be complete if we could say that the world No. But then he got to the final and played like God to blow past Nadal in four sets.” “I remember at Wimbledon in 2011, I watched him struggle against Bernard Tomic in the quarter-final, and came close to writing him off. “It’s a hard match to call, because Novak can flick a switch,” said Barry Cowan, the Sky Sports commentator and former British Davis Cup player. Djokovic was a little bit surprised how much speed came from Rafa in that match Logically speaking, there must have been some dull matches along the way … but it is difficult to recall any. These two have locked antlers 36 times, the most encounters between any two men in the open era, and their relationship has developed a compelling dynamic of its own. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
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