Alejandro Davidovich Fokina hoping that big changes pay off
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has made some big changes when it comes to his tennis and personal life this year.
He has switched coaches bringing in somebody who has been a confidante for some time.
Davidovich Fokina began working with coach Jorge Aguirre at the age of eleven. However, Fernando Verdasco, a former No 7, took over as his coach for the French Open.
“It’s a lot of years that I was with him and at the end, I think I was struggling about not going forward from the ranking [where] I was,” Davidovich Fokina, told ATPTour.com.
“I think we had our limits. I decided to change [to] Fer because I think I have to have a top player that can tell me things that maybe my coach could not say. Because at the end, the feelings and the emotions and everything that Fernando has on court all his career, he will know how to manage those times.
“We started in Roland Garros, and we didn’t have a lot of time together. But we are working every day, and we are enjoying each other, because we know [each other] very well, and I know his family, and he knows me. He knows my people around me, then we are enjoying it.
“I felt that he cared about me when we met each other,” Davidovich Fokina said of their meeting at Queens a few years ago now.
“Through all the years, he was talking to me, he was helping me. He was texting me always. I was thinking, ‘Oh, he helps me sometimes’, and when… I saw that he’s more coaching, I said, ‘Okay, I think this is my time to do a change, and I think this is the right time’.”
Thye changes don’t stop there are the Spaniard also got engaged and moved his residence to Monte Carlo.
“Well, at the end, it’s not easy, changes in your life,” Davidovich Fokina said. “I think the changes have to have a little bit of time to process everything, to settle down and to make sure what you want. And at the end, I’m very, very happy with the team I have right now with Fer. I think he’s helping me a lot and at the end, to have one guy next to you that he was one of the best guys on Tour, for me, it’s a huge help.”
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His engagement has filled him with delight and he hopes that the positive energy will spread to his game.
“It’s very special. At the end, you always dream about that, to have a family, and we moved to Monte-Carlo too. Then we left Spain,” Davidovich Fokina said. “Everything is new in my life now. It’s not always easy [figuring out] how to adapt to it, because at the end all my life, I’ve been in Spain. I’ve been in my comfort zone, and going outside of my comfort zone is not easy. But I think I’m adapting very good. At the end, things are not going to come very quick. We have to wait and fight for it.”
