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Tennis legend Boris Becker believes Novak Djokovic’s secret recipe is his ability to “divide up his forces” in order to play the most important tournaments “in top shape.”
The six-time Grand Slam champion, a former coach of Djokovic, also claimed that the Serbian’s love for representing his country is “what sets him apart.”
Becker coached his fellow great between 2014 and 2016 – during which time Djokovic won six Grand Slam titles and 14 ATP Masters 1000 tournaments.
Djokovic claimed a record-extending 24th men’s Grand Slam title with his triumph over Daniil Medvedev in the final of the 2023 US Open in September.
The 36-year-old has now won two more Majors than his biggest rival Rafael Nadal and four more than his other great contemporary Roger Federer, who retired last year.
The world No 1 won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments this year, having also secured the Australian Open and French Open crowns. He fell in five epic sets to young rival Carlos Alcaraz in the title match at Wimbledon in July – his first loss in a completed match at the All England Club since 2016.
Djokovic is set to make his return to competitive action at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Paris next week, having last competed at the Davis Cup group stage last month. He downed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his only match in Malaga as he helped Serbia to progress to the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup knockout phase, where they will face Great Britain next month.
Speaking on Eurosport Germany’s Das Gelbe vom Ball podcast, Becker praised Djokovic’s mastery of peaking for Grand Slams and also his passion for the Davis Cup.
“Novak Djokovic’s secret recipe [is that he], now at 36 years old, divides up his forces, bundles them up, and plays in the important tournaments, which are the Grand Slams, in top shape. Afterwards he usually makes a radical cut,” declared the former world No 1.
“Novak then played the Davis Cup and qualified for the final tournament of the best eight with Serbia. He is a proud Serb. He always was. Novak always enjoyed representing his country. That speaks for his attitude, his love for his fatherland, that’s what sets him apart.”
Three-time Wimbledon champion Becker revealed last week that he had started coaching world No 6 Holger Rune, having spent the week prior training with the 20-year-old.
Rune is competing at the Swiss Indoors ATP 500 event this week, where he will face Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the quarter-finals on Friday. The Dane currently occupies the eighth and final qualification spot in the Race to Turin to qualify for the ATP Finals next month.
Prior to the event in Basel, Rune revealed he was hoping to gain some information from the German icon’s spell as Djokovic’s coach.
“It would be good to steal a bit from what they did. They got so many things right. Boris did well as a coach of Djokovic and as a player. I’m excited to hear what he has to say,” said the world No 6 in an interview.
“Boris is teaching me things that are basic but important. It’s gonna be nice, you’ll see. I hope he can give me as much advice as possible and help me to do better.”
READ MORE: Novak Djokovic hailed for his ‘siege mentality’ and labelled the GOAT ‘statistically’ by former pro
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