Becker, on Djokovic: "If he plays two more years, he will become the most popular tennis player of all time"
The German talked about his time as the Serbian coach, between 2013 and 2016, and confesses that the technical aspect changed for what it would win games more easily.
Boris Becker always makes headlines when he has a microphone in front of him. The former German tennis player never holds back in interviews and tends to make statements that often grab attention. The latest one is about the best player he coached: Novak Djokovic.
The relationship between Boris Becker and Novak Djokovic was short (2013-2016) but intense. During those three years, the best version of the Serbian was seen, winning all the Grand Slams and often standing a step above the rest. Part of this success is credited to a tactical variation introduced by the German into Djokovic's game, which has turned out to be crucial for Djokovic's future. Becker revealed this in an interview with the High Performance podcast.
Considers Djokovic as Part of His Family and Defended Him While in Jail
"Novak was at Roland Garros, as the defending champion, and in his first press conference, he spoke well of me. He supported me, which I did not expect. We are a family. In difficult times, you know who truly cares about you and who doesn't. 95% of my friends forgot about me at that time, but he didn't."
Boris Becker Reveals the Tactical and Technical Aspects That Improved Novak Djokovic
"With me, he won everything. I helped him find reasons to keep winning. Novak was always winning, but sometimes it took him four or five hours to do so. When I started training with him, he had just lost the number one ranking to Nadal because he lost some semifinals where he ended up exhausted. So, I had to find a different technique and style to make him win more quickly. What I did was bring him closer to the baseline; he was always far back on the court."
"But to play on the baseline, you also have to adjust your technique, everything has to be quicker with more movement, and I also instilled in him the importance of serving. The serve is the only shot in tennis that does not depend on your opponent; you decide how and where you want to serve. If your serve is very good, you will win points faster and save energy. And he realized that by reaching a Grand Slam semifinal with two fewer hours on his legs, his chances of winning the tournament increased. He is the best in history, very clearly."
Why Djokovic Differs from Nadal and Federer
"He has a different spirit. He comes from a country that was at war and has had to overcome many obstacles to be where he is now. In the two years we worked together, we were a family. Djokovic's family history comes from a very complicated background, and overcoming all of this to win 24 Grand Slams and break all possible records is a result of his character, his personality."
Sympathy Towards Djokovic Grows in the Final Stages of His Career
"He has earned the respect he has always deserved. If he plays another year or two, he will become the most popular tennis player of all time, because the longer he stays on the court, the more people will realize who Novak really is," assures Boris Becker, who knows Novak Djokovic both as a tennis player and as a person like few others.
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Becker, sobre Djokovic: "Si juega dos años más, se va a convertir en el tenista más popular de todos los tiempos"