A Year After Parting Ways With Novak Djokovic, Former Coach Reveals a Monica Seles Quality He Wished to Imbibe in the Serbian Sensation

22-time singles Grand Slam title winner Novak Djokovic seems to have been around forever. However, the fact is that there was a time when Djokovic was a rookie who was preparing to make a mark in professional tennis. At the time, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had already established themselves as the best men’s tennis players on the planet. Their respective fanbases were incredibly large as well, and both fanbases were growing rapidly. At that time, the coach of Djokovic had a plan in mind that could get the Serb the same kind of fame enjoyed by ‘Fedal’.

While people supported Federer for his technical style of play and graceful displays, Nadal enamored his fans owing to his physicality and his never-say-die attitude on the pitch. As a result, Djokovic had a lot of work on his hands to achieve the kind of popularity that Federer and Nadal enjoyed. His former coach Marian Vajda came up with an idea, which eventually gained Djokovic some much-needed support from tennis fans.

Novak Djokovic needed some Monica Seles inspiration to appeal to fans

At the beginning of Djokovic’s pro tennis career, there was no doubting his exceptional talent and immense potential. However, he didn’t really have that X-factor about him that Nadal and Federer possessed in abundance. His coach at the time, Marian Vajda, knew that Djokovic’s tennis skills wouldn’t be enough for him to stand out.

Vajda did some brainstorming and gave Djokovic a great inspiration to draw from. He shared his insights regarding the situation in a soon-to-be-released Prime Video documentary on Djokovic’s rivalry with Rafael Nadal. Vajda said, “At the beginning of his career, he was not connected with the public. I often gave him the example of Monica Seles.”

Vajda continued, “One day, she arrived on center court with flowers. She launched them to the public”. According to Vajda, this worked wonders in terms of improving Seles’ connection with tennis fans. Vajda told Djokovic, “Do something like this!” The Serb’s former coach insisted on having no enemies. Over time, Djokovic incorporated his coach’s advice and began mimicking other players, bringing some much-needed comic relief to tennis courts around the world. Unsurprisingly, he quickly grew to be a fan favorite.

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Djokovic’s mimicry is still going strong

Djokovic turned 36 years old a couple of days back. Of course, he has matured a lot since he started to incorporate Vajda’s advice. However, despite his maturity, he continues to make tennis fans laugh through his mimicry.

During his Italian Open adventure, Djokovic sat down for a chat with iconic tennis commentator Prakash Amritraj. During his conversation with Amritraj, Djokovic impersonated legendary American rapper Snoop Dogg in what proved to be a hilarious exchange.

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