Truth emerges behind shock Novak Djokovic tennis split
Novak Djokovic's former mentor Marian Vajda has revealed the reason why he thinks the World No.1 split with him ahead of the 2022 season.
Djokovic surprised many when he announce he had split with his long-term mentor not long after he briefly lost his World No.1 ranking to Daniil Medvedev.
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Vajda had coached Djokovic for 14 of the last 15 seasons, their partnership proving to be incredibly successful as the Serbian star equalled Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on 20 grand slam victories.
The beginning of 2022 have marked arguably the most tumultuous period of Djokovic's career, with his deportation from Melbourne prior to the Australian Open ruining his chance to claim the all-time men's grand slam record.
And in March, Djokovic released a statement revealing Vajda and himself had gone separate ways, after their partnership ended on good terms back in December.
Now, Vajda has revealed why he thinks Djokovic and him split after so much success 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," he told Tennis Majors.
“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 for Grand Slams, because a coach needs a long-term plan.”
Vajda said he remains friends with Djokovic, despite the shock split.
Novak Djokovic set for Andy Murray showdown
Tennis fans are in for a treat after Andy Murray won back-to-back matches for just the second time in 2022 to set up his first showdown with World No.1 Novak Djokovic in five years.
In his first clay-court event since the 2020 French Open, Murray backed up his first-round win over Dominic Thiem by accounting for 14th-seeded Denis Shapovalov 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
Djokovic matched Murray's sublime performance as he defeated Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-2 in what he described as his 'best performance of the year'.
And both grand slam winners advancing means the pair will clash at the Madrid Open in the first meeting between the pair since 2017.
Djokovic and Murray will meet for the 37th time in the Round of 16 at Madrid.
This is the fourth most prominent rivalry in tennis history as they overtake Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe.
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