‘Novak Djokovic just had to get the match reps up’, says top coach

After losing eight consecutive finals on the major circuit, Felix Auger-Aliassime managed to put an end to the curse and clinched his first title at the ATP 500 tournament in Rotterdam on February 13th. Despite the important success, the Canadian was not confirmed in the following weeks and on the American hard court he had to leave the tournament on his debut. It was Botic van de Zandschulp and Miomir Kecmanovic who beat him in Indian Wells and Miami respectively. Even the first two tournaments played on clay in 2022 did not see one of the best versions of Auger-Aliassime take the field. The current world number nine lost to Alex Molcan at the ATP 250 tournament in Marrakech and to Lorenzo Musetti at the Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo. Auger-Aliassime does not seem to have acquired the right continuity yet to play his chances in every tournament. “I am only 21 years old and I am not yet ready to take the position of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, of course. I hope to become an important player in the ATP Tour in the future,” explained the Canadian in an interview with Sportskeeda. “It is special to witness the final part of the career of three legends like Roger Federer, Djokovic and Nadal. But new tennis players are coming. Probably not only three players will dominate the Tour. Only Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem have won a Grand Slam, but many tennis players have won important tournaments anyway. There will be 8-9 players competing for the Grand Slam tournaments.”

Annacone talks about Djokovic

Paul Annacone has declared that Novak Djokovic’s early defeat in Monte-Carlo was not a big deal and that he’s not worried about the Serb’s game. In a conversation with the Tennis Channel, Annacone said Djokovic appeared to struggle in the windy conditions in Monte-Carlo. The American also tipped the Serb to find his best tennis ahead of his title defense at Roland Garros. “He had a hard time dealing with the wind,” Annacone said. “I’m not real worried about his game, he just had to get the match reps up. I just think it’s not a big deal. He doesn’t want to lose but he wants to make sure he’s playing his best tennis at Roland Garros.” Former Croatian tennis player Goran Ivanisevic has been an influential coach throughout his coaching career. Under his coaching, another Croatian, Marin Cilic, won his first-ever Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2014. Since 2019, he has been working with the current world no.1, Novak Djokovic.