‘Novak Djokovic was unmotivated and lost – I managed to fix it quite quickly’, says Serb’s mentor
Novak Djokovic was “not really motivated” and “a little bit lost with his game” early in the 2024 season, according to the Serbian’s mentor and friend Nenad Zimonjic.
Zimonjic proclaimed that he was able to fix these issues “quite quickly and unexpectedly” after joining Djokovic’s coaching team ahead of the clay-court season.
Djokovic endured a challenging start to the 2024 campaign – starting with a straight-set loss to Alex de Minaur at the United Cup in his first event.
The Serbian then saw his Australian Open title defence end with a convincing four-set defeat to Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals in Melbourne.
At his next tournament, Djokovic suffered a shock loss to 123rd-ranked lucky loser Luca Nardi in the third round at the Indian Wells Masters. Following that, Djokovic withdrew from the Miami Open and parted ways with long-time coach Goran Ivanisevic.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion worked with Zimonjic before and during the Monte Carlo Masters, where he made an encouraging run to the semi-finals. Zimonjic also coached Djokovic at the Italian Open, where he fell in the third round.
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Djokovic went on to reach the quarter-finals at the French Open before he was forced to withdraw due to a meniscus tear.
The 37-year-old made an amazing recovery after surgery on his right knee to reach the Wimbledon final and win a maiden Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games.
He fell to a surprise third round exit at the US Open before ending his year with a runner-up result at the Shanghai Masters.
Zimonjic — former doubles world No 1 and Serbian Davis Cup captain — revealed how long he has mentored Djokovic and shed light on his experiences of coaching his compatriot.
“I’ve been his mentor on the court and off the court, basically, since I met him when he was 12,” the Serbian told Ubitennis.
“Whenever he was in trouble, which was at Wimbledon 2022, he asked me to come and help the team. I managed to do that and help them to win Wimbledon together with my good friend Goran Ivanisevic.
“Earlier this year, I found him in a situation where he was not really motivated and he was a little bit lost with his game, having no good results compared to 2023 and struggling after Australia this year.
“I managed to fix it quite quickly and unexpectedly. Novak didn’t have any expectations before Monte Carlo, but the two weeks that we worked together before the tournament helped him reach the semi-finals.
“Those new things we worked on during this period also helped him win gold at the Paris Olympics, which was his biggest goal.”
