Question for the Nole fans ...

OK guys ... how has he got so good?

He's been Mr Consistency for about 4 years now, with his [previously] 1 Slam win along with some Masters success, but he was regularly getting to the semi's of the Slams and finals/semi finals of other tournaments, hence his regular ranking of No. 3.

But other than his brief flirtation with Todd Martin that didn't appear to work, its always seemed to the outside world that its just him and long-term coach, Marian Vadja. But this was a guy who once struggled desperately to play in the heat, had respiratory and breathing problems, withdrew in matches (even his own family owned one last year), and was once slated by Andy Roddick. So what has changed?

Does he have a new fitness regime, or special treatment for his allegies? Has he employed a new fitness coach, or is the love of a good woman doing the trick for him? Something's changed ... so guys ... what is it?

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He's always been this good, it just took some time for that brilliance to surface!

I suppose all the problems he had (and he has mentioned he had some personal problems, too) just made him stronger. Once he dealt with them, only the strength was left. And he has also matured along the way, sorted out few things in his head, and... voila!

He definitely has a new treatment for his allergies, he did say last year that he'd prepare better for this season, but that there was nothing he could have done about them at the time... Anyway, he only had serious allergies problems last year.

From what I've heard/read, Djokovic has been working with Thomas Muster's old fitness coach, Gebhard Phil-Gritsch, since 2009.
I suppose Djokovic's fitness coach is in just as good shape as Novak: video?

(This is actually the first time I've visited his Facebook page, while looking for that video... I guess I'm not much of a fan after all )

As others have mentioned on 606, his win for Serbia in the DC was a tremendous boost for him, I think that was a part of the sudden transformation with all the other improvements.

Right time, right place, right ideas, all came together and enabled him to shine.

I was a severe critic of him a couple of years back, Chokovic and all that, so he's proved me wrong in many ways.

Good luck to him, I hope he gets to No1 and wins a few more slams.

The answer is pure a simply the serve and better fitness. Others have touched on the fitness I will discuss the serve.

From early 09 till the Davis Cup of 10, Novak struggled a great deal with his serve. Three factors for this, first he changed his frame and this threw his rhytym off, then when he got used to the new frame he changed his serve motion and it didn't work for several months (Martin's influence). Then around wimby he canned Martin and went back to the old motion but again this was another big change. It took him almost six months to get the serve back to where it was.


Lets remeber with an ailing serve Djokovic managed to finish in the top 3. Last year he barely ranked in the top 50 for percentage of service games won. This year he is near the top for percentage of service games won. The guy was the best returner in the business last year and now he is winning his service games with much more ease. If you have player that serves well and is the best returner on tour then I will show you a grandslam champion.

One thing that seperates Djokovic from the other also rans is that he continually takes risks to improve. He had a good serve and tried to change it to become a true big server, that risk didn't work. He had a good forehand changed it to make it one of the best, that risked worked. He was an atrocious volleyer but has played doubles and worked on that area of the game, and against the best retriever and passing shot artist on tour he went (Rafa) he went 16-21 at net.

This is the difference that makes Novak special, he takes risks and is always tinkering with things to get better. All the great players keep getting better in their prime.

The answer is fairly obvious, is it not?































HE'S BEING SECRETLY COACHED BY JAMES BLAKE!

Just to emphasize the point, Djokovic after 24 matches is holding 90 percent of the time, tied with Andy Roddick and Milos Raonic and ahead of Federer and Isner. He is also leading the ATP with a 43 percent break percentage. Mathematically, it is pretty overwhelming when a guy holds 90 percent of the time and breaks the other guy almost half of the time.

THIS_IS_THE_NEWS wrote:The answer is fairly obvious, is it not?
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HE'S BEING SECRETLY COACHED BY JAMES BLAKE!

Your post really hurt my eyes!

Green wrote:

THIS_IS_THE_NEWS wrote:The answer is fairly obvious, is it not?
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HE'S BEING SECRETLY COACHED BY JAMES BLAKE!

Your post really hurt my eyes!

That was probably just your eyes being stunned by the sheer awesome of James Blake's name being typed in big, red, bold underline letters.

Apart from the coaching, I think being able to slide on hard-courts, while not exactly the reason for his victories, must be pretty damn useful. I do it myself but it always messes up my shoes.