Coach Marin Vajda admits he had to make some changes in Novak Djokovic's game and tactics if he wanted to help the Serb beat world No. 2 Rafael Nadal at the French Open.
By 2011, world No. 1 Djokovic had at least one Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open title but he couldn't find a way to win the French Open and complete a Calendar Grand Slam.
The Serb was constantly making deep runs at Roland Garros and constantly losing in the semifinals and finals to now record 12-time French Open champion Nadal.
But in 2015, Djokovic made the breakthrough he was hoping for as he beat Nadal 7-5 6-3 6-1 when they met in the French Open quarterfinal.
"Basically his favorite surface was clay. Ironically when he became professional, he won tournaments on clay. Later on he adapted to other surfaces, winning Grand Slams on grass and hardcourt," Vajda said on The Tennis Podcast, as revealed on Sportskeeda.
"The dominance of Rafael Nadal on clay was difficult to overcome for a while. All the focus for him was to beat Rafael on clay to win the French. He had a couple of losses (six to be exact) to him before at the tournament.
"As a coach, I had to look for improvement in his game on clay. He had to adapt his game because Rafael is a very strong and powerful player on clay.
"Rafael uses a lot of weapons like spin to slow down the game. For Novak it was tough to speed the ball back. He needed a lot of strength to beat Rafael. He wouldn't have beaten Rafael that year had he had not changed his game on clay.
"I had to take the ball earlier (than he did). He had to improve his backhand to take the ball early, shut down the point and be aggressive and dominant in his game. It took him a while to realize that."
Marian Vajda says it was an amazing situation because of the way of it all ended"I remember that it was a big relief to beat Rafael. It seemed that he would then go all the way. Maybe the joy of that win took off a lot of concentration for the final," Vajda said.
"He had lot of chances against Stan and he missed them. Stan played really really great in the final. Stan deserved that win because Novak felt the pressure of beating Rafael and Andy and being a big favourite in the final.
"It was an amazing situation in 2015, he beat Rafael in the quarterfinals and Murray in the semis to reach the final but lost to Stan."
Coach Marian Vajda has been a key part in Djokovic becoming one of the greatest players ever.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3dL8HJh
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