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Marian Vajda, the former long-time coach of Novak Djokovic, has revealed the tennis star’s desire to trim down his entourage and focus on grand slams was part of the reason the pair split up.
Last month, it was announced publicly that Vajda and Djokovic had ended their co-operation for a second time following the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
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Vajda, who was at Djokovic’s side for all 20 of his grand slam title wins, started working with the Serbian in 2006. They had briefly separated once before during Djokovic’s career, after which the 34-year-old’s results hit the skids.
“Marian has been by my side during the most important and memorable moments in my career,” Djokovic said earlier this year.
“Together we have achieved some incredible things and I am very grateful for his friendship and dedication over the last 15 years.
“While he might be leaving the professional team he will always be family and I can’t thank him enough for all he has done.”
As first reported by RTVS, Vajda is now coaching world No. 527 Alex Molcan, who qualified for the second round of the this year’s Australian Open in Melbourne.
“Novak and me are still friends, it was an amicable split,” Vajda told reporters this week when quizzed about why they stopped working together.
“It was a combination of various reasons — we have been together for a really long time and his decisions showed that he wanted to focus on grand slam tournaments. That is why he might think that it is not ideal to have so many people in his team. He wanted to reduce it and have only one coach.
“I don’t know for sure, because I never asked him, but I assume from my analysis of his tournament schedule, that he wanted to reduce his team, and he chose Goran Ivanisevic. It did not make sense for a coach to coach him only on grand slams, because a coach needs a long-term plan.
“I am glad that I will coach the best Slovakian player, it was the decisive factor. I have had a lot of offers after my co-operation with Novak ended, but I wanted to help a Slovakian player – it gave me new energy.”
Many tennis pundits were surprised by Vajda’s exit from Djokovic’s coaching team, with French journalist Carole Bouchard tweeting: “Marian Vajda walking away from Novak Djokovic has been tried in the past. It has never succeeded. Tough to see that as a good sign, also because Vajda has always kinda been Novak’s ‘Gandalf’: reassuring, showing the way, keeping the pressure at reasonable levels … Wait and see.
“I’ve always said the same: when all is well in Novak’s world, he can do without Vajda or anyone whatsoever, but when his tennis world gets rocked for whatever reasons (and he has a few now), he always looked for Vajda’s steady eyes. You remove that now, ok, let’s see.”
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