Djokovic may see Agassi as soul provider
It’s an old cliché, but one that applies here.
If Andre Agassi is the answer for Novak Djokovic, what the heck is the question?
Now, let’s not demean Agassi. With eight Grand Slams to his credit and a legendary rivalry with Pete Sampras, he was one of the most colourful and successful male tennis players of the latter part of the 20th century and the opening years of this century.
Had Agassi retired as he did in 2006 and left it at that, his reputation as somewhat of a tennis savant would have survived intact. If he had retired, married Steffi Graf and started a charter school in Nevada, both of which he did, one would imagine that again, his profile in the game would have remained uninjured.
But one other very important thing also happened since his retirement. Specifically, Agassi penned a very revealing autobiography called Open in which he made several startling claims, including: He hated tennis. He wore a wig to cover his balding pate in his loss to Andres Gomez in the 1990 French Open final.
He was addicted to crystal meth at one point in his career, and lied to tennis authorities to avoid a doping suspension.
Sensational? Yes. Deliberately so to attract headlines? Maybe. But Agassi hasn’t backed off one word of it all since.
Now, with Djokovic apparently suffering through a crisis of confidence that continued Sunday when he lost the Italian Open final to youngster Alexander Zverev, the Serb has reached out to Agassi for help of some kind.
The two will meet at Roland Garros in Paris this week or next to begin a relationship that may or may not go anywhere. Remember, Milos Raonic brought in John McEnroe for Wimbledon last year, and then chose not to continue the relationship. Maria Sharapova hired Jimmy Connors back in 2013, and then fired him after one match at the Cincinnati Masters.
This Djokovic-Agassi marriage feels something like that. An impulsive, short-term fix. But to fix what? Agassi has never coached anybody. Djokovic, meanwhile, parted ways with Boris Becker last December, and Becker indicated he was disappointed with the lack of commitment to training and preparation he was seeing in the Serb. Earlier this month, Djokovic fired the rest of his training staff, including long-time coach Marian Vajda, and has since been travelling with his pregnant wife Jelena, his brother Marko, a former pro, and tennis/life guru Pepe Imaz. Imaz is a Spaniard who teaches a tennis method centred around peace, love, meditation and extended hugs.
No, we are not kidding. This actually isn’t all that out of the ordinary for Djokovic. He’s an interesting, introspective fellow, and for years would pray at a Buddhist temple in London between Wimbledon matches.
Still, he hasn’t won a major since capturing the French Open last year, losing in the third round at Wimble- don, then in the first round at the Rio Olympics and the final at the U.S. Open. In this year’s only major, the Australian Open, he was dumped in the second round by journeyman Denis Istomin in five sets.
He turned 30 this week, and while that was once old for a male tennis player, it no longer is. In fact, the five top seeds on the ATP Tour are all 30 years of age or older.
Djokovic is No. 2 behind Andy Murray, and goes into the 2017 French Open starting next week as a serious contender and defending champ, but not the favourite. Exactly what he believes Agassi will do for him is unclear. Djokovic has spoken about struggling with motivation, and Agassi does know something about that. For multiple reasons, he fell to No. 141 in the world in 1997, but then pulled his career back together and won five of his majors after that, including the 1999 French Open at age 29.
Maybe Djokovic just needs a fellow traveller familiar with the grind of the game. A kindred spirit, as it were.
He already has 12 Grand Slam titles, and after winning his first French last year, it looked for a time like he was on pace to catch Roger Federer for most major wins ever. But then Federer delivered an improbable 18th Grand Slam win Down Under in January to stretch his lead, and Rafael Nadal, who has 14 majors, will go into next week’s French Open as the odds-on favourite after a scintillating clay court season so far.
Suddenly, Djokovic is stuck in quicksand, and catching Fed seems far less likely.
If he just wants someone to take some attention off him, it could work. Agassi can sure talk and, particularly in his final years of competition, rarely found a microphone he didn’t love. You can bet in one day he’ll say more to the press than Vajda did in a decade.
Agassi was renowned as a superb returner of serve, but Djokovic already does that extremely well. Agassi was seen as a bulldog on the court, but all his comments since he retired suggest he was ambivalent at best about all-out competition.
“I never missed tennis. I never liked the competition,” told Der Spiegel in 2009 interview.
Djokovic made a quantum leap in his career when he committed to a strict nutrition and training program, and credited those for helping him win long, drawn out matches, like his five-hour, 53 minute triumph over Nadal at the 2012 Aussie Open and his five-hour semifinal win over Juan Martin del Potro at the 2013 Wimbledon gathering.
“He’s a person who can contribute to my life on and off the court,” explained Djokovic. “He was a revolutionary player because he had this charisma, he had this approach to tennis and life that was quite different from others.”
It sounds like Djokovic has admired Agassi from afar for a long time and wants to bring him into his camp as a soul mate as much as a traditional coach. Federer switched to Stefan Edberg and then to Ivan Ljubicic, while Murray went a more unconventional route, using former WTA star Amelie Mauresmo of France as his coach for several years.
So really, it’s whatever works. If Djokovic is going to catch Fed he’s got to get rolling soon with more Grand Slam wins, and capturing Roland Garros next month would seem to be an appropriate start.
If Agassi can be his muse, so much the better. Damien Cox is the co-host of Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for The Star. Follow him @DamoSpin. His column appears Tuesday and Saturday.