Djoko and Agassi part company

Djoko and Agassi have parted company. Agassi is quoted as saying: "Far too often we found ourselves agreeing to disagree." Novak has now got rid of practically his whole team. Did Andre think Djoko had come back too soon, was playing the wrong way, or what?
   Djoko seems all over the place at the moment and you'd think the last thing he needs right now is to go it, effectively, alone. Let's hope he gets himself sorted out soon. I think most would agree that it will be good to have all the top guys back fit and competing hard.

I think Djokovic needs Marian Vajda.

Djokovic probably needs a new elbow. It is likely that all Djokovic's issues issue from that.

May (or may not !) prove to be the right decision. But, right now, my first thought is that Djokovic has lost a very smart guy.

Smart is not a word that I would use for Agassi after following his career and reading his autobiography. He does have some genuine old timer pearls of wisdom but he doesn't exactly strike me as an intellectual who would be offering up statistical analysis to show Djokovic he should hit down the line more or add 5% power to his serve. He's probably better off as a motivator/mental coach. Just a gut feeling.

@ HB - well, interesting to hear your thoughts there, and a good example of how we all tend to perceive things differently.

I read his autobio a couple of years or so ago - and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I seem to remember reading it all ‘in one hit’, which is rare for me (I am slow-ish reader and even a small tome can keep me going a good while).

I sensed he was a deep-thinker and that this - coupled with his own obvious success in the sport - would prove a good quality where coaching is concerned.

Oh, agree, the book was pretty page turney, I really enjoyed it, but reflected later that it was a lyrical representation of fact.

You can't trust it. We know he lied in his career, and now he admits it now (e.g. drugs) so how can we be sure he is being as "open" as he says he is.

I had an idea while reading the book to go on you tube to watch some of the actual matches he was talking about while reading the book. Therefore following the action visually as he talked about his emotions on each point.

However, he would say in the book something like "at 4-4 in the third set, at 30-0 I hit a deep forehand" then I would watch it on youtube and see he hit at 30-0 an ace. And this happened on numerous occassions. I think he just talked about the matches from memory and didn't bother to check the recordings or ask anyone else to do so. Pretty sloppy if you ask me.

There is one part in the book when he says that he kept Boris Becker waiting at the net for absolutely ages while standing at the back of the court waving to the crowd. But, on the recording of that match, he just walks straight to the net.

So given that some parts of the book can be shown to be false or exaggerated by actual video evidence, how much can we trust say, the story that his father shot birds out of the sky until they covered the roof of his house not to be exaggerated. And if he fails to remember things that happened in his professional career accurately, how can we trust his stories about what he did when he was 7 years old.

That being said, a lot of it had a ring of truth in it and is probably broadly accurate, but I doubt the specifics are that precise. It doesn't sound like he kept a diary or anything. I think he just spoke into a tape recorder from memory about things that happened 20-30 years later.

It is rather like as if Hollywood had made a movie about this life, there is always "artistic license".

I read it twice actually and often referred to it later in thread discussions on forums or as a reference. I eventually took it down to a second hand sell of items and it shifted pretty quickly.