Djokovic goes for shock therapy to revive career

When Novak Djokovic announced recently that he will part company with three of his longtime coaching staff with immediate effect, it created quite a ripple in the tennis world.When Djokovic steps onto the courts this week at the Madrid Masters, he will not see the familiar faces of coach Marian Vajda, fitness coach Gebhard Phil Gritsch and physiotherapist Miljan Amanovic in his box. Instead, as it stands, it will be empty.Vadja has been with Djokovic since 2006, during the days when he hadn’t started winning Grand Slams. Gritsch has helped him remain in shape for eight years and Amanovic, too, has been around for a similar time. Now six Grand Slam titles later, he has decided that he needs a change.Top athletes resort to whatever means possible to prolong their career or revive a slump. But this move seems like a shot in the dark, an impulse-driven one rather than well-planned. And with the French Open around the corner, it could prove to be costly.The last Grand Slam that Djokovic won was almost a year ago at Roland Garros, when he defeated Andy Murray to claim his only clay court major. He was flying high in the early part of the season. But subsequently an elbow injury and ‘personal issues’ as he called it, caused an alarming dip in form. He lost the world No 1 ranking to Murray. Before that Djokovic was the world No 1 for a staggering 122 weeks in a row.The 2017 season began with the shock loss to Dennis Istomin in the Australian Open. Then there were back-to-back hard court losses to Nick Kyrgios – both in straight sets. And there was the loss in last month’s Monte Carlo Masters to David Goffin. This downward spiral of results for a player for his calibre would have been unacceptable.  After letting go of his team, he has hinted that he will be looking at a high-profile name as a coach. He had a successful three-year stint with Boris Becker during which he won six Grand Slams. But then the two parted ways. There are rumours that the Serb might reunite with the German.But for now, he has chosen to fly solo. That is a risky proposition. In today’s competitive world of sport a helping hand is always welcome. Changing of coach is understandable but letting go of the entire support staff seems desperate. That the Serb still has the game is a given. It’s also a given that it’s the mental aspect that he needs to fortify.And for that he brought in Pepe Imaz, a former tennis player from Spain, who is a proponent of meditation. He has been around since last Wimbledon year but with ‘lengthy hugs’ being one of his methods, one has to question Djokovic’s choice.The Serb is 29 and is still ranked second. He has enough years left in him to produce another strong run. But for that he needs his batteries fully charged. He needs a few dedicated people in his box shouting encouragement during the match and helping him before and after. He is attempting to overcome all of these hurdles on his own, for the first time in his career. It just feels like he’s already two-sets down in this battle. It needs to be seen if he can produce another one of his magical baseline fightbacks.