Annabel Croft hail the decision of Novak Djokovic to team up with Marian Vajda one more time, though she questioned if he would require to add another backroom staff member in the coming days. The Serb broke up with his longtime mentor last year in a surprise move as he completely shivered his team. Andre Agassi and, then, Radek Stepanek called on board, but after a hard period marred by a bad form and an elbow problem (long lasting), the pair left Team Djokovic and it was an early exit at the Miami Open after the third consecutive defeat of the player. After a short time, Vajda was seen on court with the winner of 12-time Grand Slam major in Marbella and it was confirmed by different sources that his former coach would join him in the upcoming Masters 1000 event in Monte Carlo.
Although it is not confirmed if both will extend their partnership even after the tournament, but former British No. 1 Croft thinks that it is a good move to bring back his ‘second father’ back to his team. With this move of ‘I am actually not at all surprise”.
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After spending a bit of time away from the game, in peace with his newly born baby and his wife, its business time again for Novak Djokovic, the top ranked player in the world.
The 27-year old made his way to the French capital last evening to play in BNP Paribas Masters.
His opponent in the second round there will be the Germany International Philipp Kohlschreiber who demolished the local boy Edouard Roger Vasselin in the straight sets yesterday.
Djokovic might still be at the top of the world rankings, but, he is not totally safe there. He does not have a big lead over the second ranked Roger Federer.
The margin between the two is not even of 500 points now. So, it’s important for Djokovic to make sure that he wins the masters in Paris.
Djokovic has not lost any match on the indoor courts for the last two years. His last defeat in an indoor arena had come in 2012.
But, the draw that he has been given in Paris is not the easiest and he knows that. He emphasized that point while addressing the press after landing there.
In the words of the Serb, “The draw is pretty difficult. I have to play against Philipp first up and he is a very fine player I believe. He doesn’t seem to struggle on any kind of court and especially on the courts over here which are going to be slightly on the slower side, he would feel comfortable. Considering the way he has played in his first game, I am not expecting anything easy from his side. I will have to play really, really well to get better of him, that’s for sure.”
So far, there have been 6 games played between Djokovic and Kohlschreiber and the former has won 5 out of them.
Roger Federer suffered a defeat in the French Open Round of 16 yesterday. He was up against the Latvian youngster Ernests Gulbis whom he was supposed to overcome very easily, but, it wasn’t to be. In a marathon match that went on for quite long, it’s Gulbis who managed to come on top of the Swiss maestro.
This is Federer’s worst performance in the French Open in the last one decade. He had been making it to the quarter final round at the Rolland Garros since the last 9 years, but, unfortunately, he couldn’t do that this time around.
Gulbis who is considered as one of the most unpredictable players going around on the tour was over the moon after the match. Speaking in the post match interview, he said, “I would rate it as the biggest victory that I have ever pulled off in my career. I have got better of Roger before as well, but, that match had only 3 sets. But, here, I defeated him in 5 sets. So, it would do my confidence a world of good.”
The result of the match was heartbreaking for the spectators who had turned up in big numbers to cheer for Federer. They kept screaming Roger, Roger right through the contest.
To be fair to Federer, he didn’t play poor tennis. He was actually fantastic at times. It’s just that he lost his shape towards the end which proved to be costly.
If Federer had won this match, he would have reached the quarter final of a major tournament for the 42nd time.
He was very disappointed not to be able to do so. After the match, the Swiss star said, “It hurts to get knocked out like this, it really hurts.”
The agent of Andy Murray has hinted that the player would not part ways with his current coach Amelie Mauresmo despite having a bit of a dreadful grass court season.
Murray has taken part in a couple of tournaments since Mauresmo’s appointment i.e. the AEGON international and the Wimbledon Championships. His performance in both those tournaments has been mediocre.
He couldn’t even get to the Round of 4 in Wimbledon as he suffered defeat at the hands of Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the quarter finals. It was the Scot’s worst outing at the All England Club in the last 5 years.
After that defeat, the rumours were circulating that the association of Murray and Mauresmo would come to an end, but, it doesn’t seem to be the case now.
If the fresh reports are to be believed, Murray is looking to continue working with the former French player at least for a few more months and he would be giving her a contract extension pretty soon.
Mauresmo was initially signed up only for a few weeks on a trial basis. Murray had said that he would be evaluating her performance as coach after the Wimbledon Championships.
The experts have different opinions on this issue. There are a few who think that Murray should try and find a good male coach for himself, while, the others are of the opinion that Mauresmo deserves a bit more time.
Meanwhile, the exit from the Wimbledon quarter finals has seen Murray drift down to the 10th position in the World rankings.
Murray’s highest world ranking so far in his career is no. 2 which he had achieved in 2009. Now, to get back to that position, he will surely have to do a lot of hard work.
Novak Djokovic ended the wonderful winning streak of Roger Federer yesterday as he defeated the Swiss star in the final match of the BNP Paribas Open to lift his first trophy this season.
It was a nail biting match. Both the players gave it their all right through and at the end it was all about nerves in the tie breaker in the deciding set.
Djokovic appeared to be letting it slip through his hands as he missed out on first of the two match points that he got, but, the Serb didn’t commit that mistake on the second occasion and served it out to seal the title.
This result was somewhat expected. Yes, Federer has been in unbelievable form in 2014, but, still, Djokovic’s strength on hard courts is immense and in the previous few matches, he had shown that he was returning to his old colours. So, it was him who was the favourite in the contest and he did justice to that tag.
Djokovic’s start was a little bit shaky. It was probably down to his nervousness more than anything else, but, he slowly got into his own and then, displayed his class. Some of his hits in the second set were just magical.
This is the third time that Djokovic has clinched the singles title at Indian Wells.
Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, the 26 years old Serbian said, “It’s always tough to take on Roger. The kind of tennis he has been playing is absolutely fantastic. I am happy that I came on top.”
In total, it was the 33rd match between these two players and now, with this win, Djokovic has gone ahead by 17-16 as far as the head-to-head record is concerned.
Novak Djokovic’s newly appointed coach, Boris Becker, has made it clear that he is not going to continue commentating for BBC. The former German player has been a BBC commentator since the last 11 years and there were speculations that he might continue in that role even after being appointed as Djokovic’s coach, but, those speculations turned out to be wrong.
The last season had not gone that well for Djokovic .He had made a great start to the season by lifting the Australian Open singles trophy, but, then, he lost his form and his performance in the second half of the season was not anywhere close to his standards. He doesn’t want the next season to go the same way and that’s why, he has been working hard on his game since the last few weeks in Spain. He wants to ensure that he enters the next season with good rhythm. Becker is also there in that camp with him.
When asked if he would continue working as a commentator for BBC, Becker said, “It’s not the right thing for the coach of a top player to be seen on television analysing matches. So, I will not continue doing that.”
When asked on which aspect of Djokovic’s game he would focus the most, Becker said, “In the professional circuit, if you have to win tournaments on a regular basis, you need to do the minor things right and I would be trying to make sure that Novak does that. I wouldn’t mind having a few hits with him occasionally, but, my main job is to have a look at the videos and try to find out what he needs to improve.”
Djokovic will go into the upcoming Australian Open as the defending champion.
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June 29, 2018 4:58 pm | 
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