Boris Becker admits to coaching Djokovic during matches

Boris Becker appeared on "The One Show" tonight no doubt to promote his new book. His tongue was loosened and he admitted to coaching Djokovic during matches and even gave examples of some of the "secret" hand signals that he used.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05yn63h/the-one-show-19062015

He ought to be hauled up for that. Although he says other coaches are even worse. It's all quite annoying.

It's an open secret that many players are coached illegally during matches.  Toni Nadal has admitted it, and there were no repercussions. Now Becker (who seems desperate to sell books, and possibly build up his importance) has spilled the beans - although I don't recall seeing him do almost anything that could be interpreted as coaching.

I think this experiment with coaching in the women's game has been absolutely pathetic. One of the virtues of tennis is that the player has to think for themselves, and you're only as good as your own ability to solve problems. To destroy that in deference to modern prima donnas who can't tie their own shoes without getting advice on which lace gets crossed first, is a insult to the history, traditions and special character of tennis.

I just hate the way things that used to mean something get thrown out the window because some cheating prima donnas just can't follow the rules, and coaching is an example of that.  I also think coaching in tennis is vastly overrated.  Just take a look at how poorly most female players serve today, and you have much of the evidence against the value of coaching in tennis.  Most of them waste time on pseudo-psychological drivel that has almost no impact at all on results.

Then when the coach reaches the limits of his ability to improve his liege, suddenly it's all down to believe or mental strength.  How convenient. Meanwhile half the women on tour can't toss the ball to the same spot 3 times in a row, let alone hit a decent serve...and every one of them has a coach - some of them have two or three if you count parents and boyfriends (assuming the coach isn't already the boyfriend - which is a whole other story).

I know where this is going in the ATP, because we've seen it in the WTA - but to me there's nothing worse than seeing a coach come to court and try to "talk" some crying mental midget into "believing" they can win, who's real problem is that she can't serve, can't volley or  has 2 ways to hit the ball - hard and harder - neither of which is working.

I just hate coaching.

MMT1 wrote:I just hate coaching.

I agree with this, but the scathing indictment of prima donnas who cannot tie their own show laces may be a bit too much.

Grant you that they do get emotional, and I do recall Lisicki's crying in the WC during W.

Coaching should happen before the player enters the court, unlike Boxing or some American sports, which are a chess match between the coaches' brains with the players' brawn.

Women's Cricket, Badminton and Table Tennis has non-existent coaching in the playing arena.

Im surprised that anyone is surprised at Boris Beckers  revelation  . Anyone with half an eye could have told you he was coaching, Ive seen him caught on camera many times , and  you see how often Novak looks to his camp during a match..
As for Toni Nadal he has admitted it but also Nadal has been fined for it.
Verdascos father was quite blatantly coaching him during that famous semi final against Rafa at the AO..caught on camera several times
I cannot  believe Umpires are not aware of it.  










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This falls under the, "well DUH" category of revelations. It was almost embarrassingly obvious during Wimbledon. I think I may have actually commented on it on here, but I'm too lazy to try finding my quote so I can sing I told you so. Really, did anyone really think Becker keeps himself busy during Matches by throwing arbitrary gang signs?

The "funny" thing is he is so obvious...but fhen when has Boris  not been obvious ?

I don't think it's obvious that with Boris' help, Djoko won 2 more slams.

Watching the Federer v Karlovic match, Karlovic's coach Popovic, was telling Karlovic when to challenge, and when not to.

It is indeed tragic when players cannot solve their own problems on court, and have to rely on external assistance, be it a book under the towel, hand signals, morse code or any other secret handshake.

I am happy to watch reruns of the 1960-80s Tennis.

LuvSports! wrote:I don't think it's obvious that with Boris' help, Djoko won 2 more slams.

Of course its obvious.
Who is saying he is not a good coach... BUT he should not be doing it whilst Novak is on court.
He was himself a bliddy good tennis player but has never hidden his light under a bushel....hence my comment.

I don't think it's obvious. 
He beat Murray at Aus in '12, '12 & '13 before Becker came along. Djoko had the game to win slams but mentally he was going.
With Feds at Wimby, I think he did v well obvs but put it more down to Vajda and him than Becker.

Well I cant speak for you ... but it is pretty obvious to me

LuvSports! wrote:I don't think it's obvious that with Boris' help, Djoko won 2 more slams.

I wonder if it was the on court coaching that made the difference

hawkeye wrote:

LuvSports! wrote:I don't think it's obvious that with Boris' help, Djoko won 2 more slams.

I wonder if it was the on court coaching that made the difference

Funny- Djokovics father said in a Serbian paper during the rain delay in the Djoko/Nadal FO Final that if they could stop Toni from coaching Nadal, Djokovic would have no trouble beating him the next day. Ranted how horrible it was that Nadal is allowed to be coached.... Now we find Djokovic is being coached as well. Hypocrisy.

So what is new

The ATP should not punish Djokovic for this, if not anything they should compensate Djokovic with a few points.

If anyone heard Becker's commentary, it's clear that he'd be totally useless. I wonder what hand signal Becker has for saying a vague platitude that is absolutely obvious anyway.

I think Federer was coached on court all his life by Roche, Lundgren, Annacone, Edberg, Carter. It will make this triumvirate complete.

Amazing $H173.

Djokovic frantically gesticulating in the direction of Boris Becker during the match was probably him trying to say "Just shut up Boris, I'm already damn well aware that if I want to win this match from 2 sets to 1 down I have to 'step up my game and win the next 2 sets'. "

It Must Be Love wrote:Djokovic frantically gesticulating in the direction of Boris Becker during the match was probably him trying to say "Just shut up Boris, I'm already damn well aware that if I want to win this match from 2 sets to 1 down I have to 'step up my game and win the next 2 sets'. "

"You need to hit the ball in a way he cant get it back Novak"
"Its soo clear to me now! Cheers Boz!"

laverfan wrote:Coaching should happen before the player enters the court.

100% agree on that. It's funny, I almost retracted my post, but I had too much wine when I wrote this and couldn't be bothered. I have no problem with coaching in general - it's the show that I can't stand. Coaches thumping their chest during matches. Jumping up and down and gesticulating, as if that helps. And the worst of the worst - the on court coaching - with microphones no less. All that is just too little too late, and a complete waste of all our time.

Do you homework and the test will feel easy.

You know, I have a pet peeve: what's all this about it being obvious that Becker is doing on-court coaching. Can someone...ANYONE...give me an example of some signal Becker gave that was "obviously" coaching? I just hate it when someone announces something like Becker did (for which I have seen NO evidence) and everyone seems to say, "Oh, that was so obvious!"

What was so obvious? What are the signals that Becker gives? Does biting his nail mean to serve wide in the deuce court? Does scratching his nose mean chip the return no matter WHERE it's hit? I just don't believe Becker here, because I haven't heard or seen him do anything. I have the feeling Becker is trying to take more credit than he deserves - even though I can point to a few things that Djokovic has done differently since he took on Becker as a coach, that have helped his game tremendously.

BTW - just ask Ion Tiriac how easy it was to coach Becker. Tiriac was notorious for for coaching Vilas illegally, to which he also "admitted", and according to him, Becker was uncoachable...in his words, "...the most stubbornest player I ever had..."

Apparently he would tell Boris to serve and volley 3 out of 4 points and he would play from the back court the entire game. He would tell him to chip all backhand returns, and he would come over every single one of them.

"When I left you I was but the learner. Now I am the master”

Darth Vader - Star Wars

So it's fine for Becker to illegally coach Djokovic because Djokovic is considered too good to need it. Then presumably the same would apply to Nadal considering he is way more proficient

hawkeye wrote:So it's fine for Becker to illegally coach Djokovic because Djokovic is considered too good to need it.

No that's not what I said, it's fine for Becker to do what he wants because he has no clue what's going on and any advice would probably either make no difference or negatively impact Djokovic's game.

Non sequitur alert!

Yep, history revision from me... Never before suggested that team Djokovic blatantly engage in on court coaching

kingraf wrote:Djokovic is blatant speaking to his team there!!! If there was no coaching involved, Uncle Toni's my uncle!!

https://www.606v2.com/t54620p150-wimbledon-day-11-men-s-semi-finals

KR
You also said you were under the impression that only one player did it.

You should have said that only one player gets penalised for it

Nobody has ever been fined for on-court coaching bar Nadal? Sure.

I don't know why I typed that, HN. I figure that I don't actually read post match reports, or fines handed out, so my only actual knowledge of on court coaching comes from here. And the only guy who ever gets mentioned here is Rafa....

Nonetheless, I'm really not sure why anyone would think anything else is happening when Djokovic loses a point, looks to his camp starts muttering, and then Becker mutters...

What KR sees - "blatant coaching"
what everyone else sees - "Djokovic is getting despondent. why does he look like he's giving up?"