Coach who put Djokovic’s pieces back together hails ‘biggest surprise’ of career
● Vajda did not expect Wimbledon triumph after two years of struggle
Novak Djokovic’s coach described his Wimbledon triumph as the biggest surprise of their long partnership.
The 31-year-old put two years of struggles with motivation, confidence and fitness behind him by beating Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) to win his 13th grand slam title.
The presence of Marian Vajda in Djokovic’s box was no doubt a factor after the pair reunited in April. The Slovak coached Djokovic from 2006 to May 2017, when the former world No 1 made the shock announcement that he had parted company with his entire team.
He subsequently began working with Andre Agassi but elbow problems put him off the tour for the second half of last season and Djokovic was unable to return to anything like top form when the pair split.
Djokovic had just suffered dispiriting back-to-back losses totarodanielandbenoitpaire in Indian Wells and Miami when Vajda began putting the pieces back together.
Vajda said: “When we met first time I explained to him the process of self-belief. It has to be done a certain way. He understood that. We stuck to the routine. Obviously he found out he has to go through the matches and he has to really start fighting and get the mental strength.”
There was no instant progress but Djokovic’s game began to come together on clay before a painful quarter-final loss to Marco Cecchinato at the French Open, after which he said in a tetchy press conference he might not even play on grass.
“He had really tough times, doubting himself,” said Vajda, pictured. “Eventually I was thinking it would take a longer time, maybe three, four, five months, maybe the US Open will be the right time.
“After his terrible interview after Paris, almost not playing the grass court, he found himself right away from the first
0 Novak Djokovic and his wife Jelena attend the Wimbledon Champions Dinner following Sunday’s final.
day in Queen’s. I didn’t believe so much during the (Wimbledon) semi-final he can beat Rafa (Nadal) because Rafa was mentally much better and winning grand slams but somethingamazinghappened in the fifth set. I didn’t expect to win Wimbledon. This is the biggest surprise from all the years I was with him.”
Hard work and getting back to basics were the virtues that Vajda impressed on Djokovic.
“He stopped for six months, and if you play violin and you stop for six months, you cannot play any songs,” said the 53-year-old. “He didn’t play the songs, and you have to practise, practise, practise until you break the racket, strings, everything and the routine comes back, the body remembers. I just bring him the same routine, the calmness, the positiveness, the confidence in what he’s doing. I see him in his eyes.”
Vajda had already taken a
step back when Djokovic hired Boris Becker ahead of the 2014 season, but the split came as a shock to the tennis world.
Vajda said: “I was happy because I never saw my family for many years. I saw my kids and I really enjoyed that time.
“I am very close to him (Djokovic) but he made a decision and I am not suffering for that. He suffered a lot but I just didn’t want to be involved for a time. It wasn’t a punishment, it’s just the way he did it. I thought Andre would really help him – you make a bad decision but you don’t have bad intention.”
Djokovic and Vajda have been taking their new partnership tournament by tournament and, although there is still no long-term contract, there seems no chance of them separating again any time soon.
Djokovic said: “We’re going to keep on working until the end of the year for sure, then
we’ll see after that. Obviously I’m so grateful to Marian, to GG (physio Gerbhard Gritsch), as well, for coming back. I love these guys very much.”
The next major target for Djokovic will be to try to add another slam title at the US Open, where he had made at least the semi-finals every year since 2006 before missing out last year through injury.
He said: “I understand that people are questioning whether I can consistently play on this level. Trust me, I am, too. At the same time I can’t look too far on the road because I have to embrace and cherish this kind of accomplishment.
“This is going to be a huge confidence boost and springboard for whatever is coming up. I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I like to play on hard courts. US Open was always a successful tournament for me. I’m looking forward to going out there and playing my best and see where it takes me.” England opener Jason Roy may miss today’s series decider against India at Headingley, with James Vince in line for his first oneday international appearance in almost two years.
Roy is struggling with a finger injury on his right hand, sustained while fielding during the 86-run victory over India at Lord’s on Saturday.
He is rated as highly doubtful to play the third and final ODI in Leeds, so Hampshire captain Vince could be drafted in for the contest, despite not playing a 50-over game for his country since the tour of Bangladesh in October 2016.
Alex Hales has missed this series with a side strain and his replacement in the squad, Dawid Malan, has already been released to play for the England Lions in a four-day contest.
That leaves Vince, who lost his Test place at the start of the summer, with the chance to possibly add to his four ODI innings, having scored more than 500 runs in Hampshire’s victorious Royal London One-day Cup campaign recently.
Today’s contest will also give England a chance to claim an early psychological victory over India ahead of next summer’s World Cup on home soil.
Seamer Mark Wood wants the hosts to embrace the pressure that comes with a must-win scenario and views it as perfect preparation for next year’s tournament, when the stakes will be even higher.
“I think this has an impact for the World Cup,” Wood said. “We can use it as a game where it might be (like) a semi-final or a knock- Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal, coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and manager Asanka Gurusinha have each been suspended for six international matches for “conduct which is contrary to the spirit of the game”.
The men have each been handed eight suspension points, so will miss the first four One-day Internationals against South Africa, along with both Test matches.
The bans come after the trio out game. It’s a series decider here, which will be like a World Cup match – it’s a must-win.
“Luckily, over the past year we’ve managed these situations really well. Hopefully we can carry on that trend.”
The previous two matches in this series have featured comprehensive victories by either nation, England having responded to their crushing eight-wicket loss at Trent Bridge by bouncing back at Lord’s.
With the countries currently poitioned at one and two in the ICC ODI world rankings, Wood attributes the margins to both teams’ killer instincts.
“It’s two very good sides – when they’re on top, they really are on top, you keep your foot on the throat and don’t let opposition up,” he explained.
“Everyone in the England team will hold their hands up and say in the first game we were absolutely drilled, we were beaten into the dirt. We knew we had to improve for the second game.
“I don’t know why the margins are so big, maybe it’s just two really good teams and when they are on top the quality really comes through. I’d like to think that this one could still be a big margin for us. We’ve shown plenty of character from the first game to the second game, shown little improvements that were needed. Hopefully it can shine through again.” pleaded guilty to an International Cricket Council charge following last month’s Test against the West Indies in St Lucia.
The third day of the match was held up by two hours after the tourists refused to take to the field in protest at the umpires’ decision to impose a five-run penalty and replace the match ball after ruling that the condition of the original ball had been altered by Chandimal.