VAJDA SPITTING FIRE: Novak and I ended our cooperation because of HIM!
IZVOR: Republika - 07.05.2022 | 14:37
Marian Vajda, the former coach of Novak Djoković, spoke about the termination of cooperation with the current best tennis player in the world.
The Slovak coach has decided to break the silence and speak openly about how and why his role in the team that won 20 Grand Slams ended.
- Novak and me are still friends, it was an amicable split. I told Goran Ivanišević that we will practice together in Paris. I did not tell Novak about working with Molcan, but I did tell Goran, so I am sure Novak knows - Vajda said.
The experienced expert then stated what happened.
- 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. 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 Ivanišević. It did not make sense for a coach to coach him only him on Grand Slams, because a coach needs a long-term plan - the Slovak pointed out.
On the remark whether Novak Djoković proposed cooperation only at the Grand Slams, Marián Vajda was short - "I don’t know, because I never asked".
Marián Vajda was Novak's coach from 2006 to 2017, and then from 2018 to 2022. In the period from 2013 to 2016, the Slovak was only a member of the team, as Boris Becker was Djoković's head coach.
He also won the ATP award for the best coach of 2018, and he also has recognitions from the Olympic Committee of Serbia from 2010 and 2011.