Novak Djokovic is no longer working with Andy Murray. So who will be in his team for the French Open, the second Major of the season that starts next week? Last year in March, Djokovic parted ways with his longtime coach Goran Ivanisevic, and later in November, he hired the Scot as the latter hung up his racket at the Paris Olympics.
At present, Djokovic will not be hiring a new coach. There will be familiar faces in his team for the French Open and the Geneva Open, which he will play next. In the pre-tournament press conference, Djokovic said he is not in a hurry for a new coach. He said:
Dusan Vemic, who is actually [the Serbian Billie Jean King] Cup captain — but he was part of my coaching team years ago with Marian — he's here, so he's going to be here with me in Geneva and Roland Garros. And Boris Bosnjakovic, who is my assistant coach and analyst as well.
After retirement from tennis in 2011, Vemic joined Andrea Petkovic‘s team the same year and coached Djokovic from 2011 to 2013 and from 2016. Vemic also worked with the Serbian Davis Cup team, doubles pair Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan, and later Brandon Nakashima. When he was in Djokovic’s team, the veteran player won three Grand Slam titles, one ATP Finals, and also the Miami Open.
The reason why the 24-time Grand Slam champion ended his collaboration with Murray was because the partnership did not produce great results. Djokovic reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and an injury forced him to give a walkover to World No.3 Alexander Zverev.
After two back-to-back defeats, the World No.6 reached the Miami Open final and lost the match to Jakub Mensik. He again lost two matches on the trot without winning a set in the two clay-court Masters 1000s he played in Monte Carlo and Madrid.
Novak Djokovic reveals why he decided to participate in the Geneva Open
Last year, Novak Djokovic made deep runs in almost every tournament on the clay swing, including at the French Open where he progressed to the quarterfinal but had to withdraw from it due to an injury. He also participated at the Geneva Open and reached the semifinals, losing the match to Tomas Machac.
The 37-year-old has again signed up for the ATP 250 event to find his rhythm to challenge the other top players at the French Open where he last lifted the title in 2023 by breezing past Casper Ruud. At the pre-tournament press conference, he said losing matches in a row was a new experience for him.
Yes, I am not particularly used to having this kind of circumstance where I would lose consecutive matches in tournament first rounds, I don’t think it has ever happened to me in the last 20 years.
In Geneva, Djokovic will be kick-starting his campaign against Marton Fucsovics, whom he defeated in the five matches they played against each other. The upcoming match will be their first meeting since the second round of the 2023 French Open.
Before the Italian Open, he lost his No.5 ranking to Jack Draper who made it to the Madrid Open final for the first time. Djokovic, who skipped Italian Open for the first time since 2007, is chasing his 100th ATP title in Geneva.
Since winning the Paris Olympics last year, he reached two finals (both Masters 1000s) in Shanghai and Miami, losing both. His last Grand Slam title was the 2023 US Open and since that victory, he only progressed to one Major final, the 2024 Wimbledon, losing the match to Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets.
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