[Forehand Of Doom]

What do you think about Becker's work with Djokovic so far? Does he look like a better player to you than he was in 2011? What areas of Djokovic's game do you think have improved and can be credited to Becker? Has anything about Djokovic's game regressed?

Reminder: Becker joined a couple of months before the Australian Open 2014 tournament. Since then, 6 slams have been played, and Djokovic has won 2 of them. He has also won the WTF and countless Masters titles.

 

[SheepleBuster]

Sure, G- ... I have no respect for Becker. He is like Rachal Dolezal in many ways ... A British trapped in a German's body. He has not added anything to Nole's game but stupid come to net moves on match point and break points that have cost him a ton of important matches.

 

[GasquetGulbis]

I can't imagine any coach having a better affect. He had the hardest job in the world in trying to elevate the World Number 1 to a higher level. So, A- I suppose.

 

[BankaiKenpachi]

Who knows, without Becker, Fed might have won Wimby last year...

 

[Mark Lenders]

I can't imagine any coach having a better affect. He had the hardest job in the world in trying to elevate the World Number 1 to a higher level. So, A- I suppose.

So why does he get an A? If his job was to take Nadal to a higher level, it was a resounding failure, he went from #1 to #10 and his level is obviously much lower.

If his job was to take Djokovic to a higher level, well he still failed anyway.

 

[RocketMan70]

Above average, but not brilliant. B+ grade.
Game plan against Stan at RG was not that great, had no Plan B when Stan was outhitting him.
Possibly helped him on grass last year- becoming a dual Wimbledon winner was very important in my book, and a 5th AO in 2015 was a great result too - but still offset by a poor showing in 2014.
If he wins another Slam this year, he goes from villain to hero again, almost instantly.

 

[GasquetGulbis]

So why does he get an A? If his job was to take Nadal to a higher level, it was a resounding failure, he went from #1 to #10 and his level is obviously much lower.

If his job was to take Djokovic to a higher level, well he still failed anyway.

Maintaining the level of the best player in the world is also an accolade in itself.

 

[SheepleBuster]

Above average, but not brilliant. B+ grade.
Game plan against Stan at RG was not that great, had no Plan B when Stan was outhitting him.
Possibly helped him on grass last year- becoming a dual Wimbledon winner was very important in my book, and a 5th AO in 2015 was a great result too - but still offset by a poor showing in 2014.
If he wins another Slam this year, he goes from villain to hero again, almost instantly.

I think Nole would have won last year with or without Becker. I still fail to see how he has improved Nole. Keep in mind, Nole was already very very good

 

[thrust]

The important thing is what Novak and his team thinks. I think Novak is more confident with his serve, overhead and net play. Unfortunately, Novak will never be a great volleyer, but his net play has improvement somewhat. Novak was a great player before Becker, but perhaps Boris has fine tuned his game. Wimbledon and USO will tell the tale.

 

[Logos]

8/10 Becker can be credited for Wimb14 since that was his prefered surface while he was a player. AO15 and other AOs is all Vajda since Vajda comes up with HC routines.

Novak's game is more versatile and efficient under Becker. Serving is also better. I think that the only time Nole had a better serve was as a 20 year old. Multislam year and he gets 9/10.

 

[HafaK]

He is a guy sitting there in the box for Djokovic to yell at if he is frustrated and feel the need to vent.

 

[miura88]

2014: C+ (won 1 Slam and 4 Masters, but could've/should've been a multi-slam year)
2015 so far: B+ (would've been an A if Novak had won RG)

 

[MIMIC]

He won a 2nd Wimbledon with Novak, so that's definitely something. I'd give him a solid B+

 

[The Triumvirate]

Djokovic only pays him to help against Broken Kneedal and Granpa Fed.

Wawrinka is not in his contract.

 

[Myisyours]

Where is the french?!?!? So at best C+

 

[Floki]

Another thread about No1e opened by notorious hater with the intention to catalyze bashing and hating on No1e. The forum is flooded by such threads by several persistent and pathetic haters. Not sure why are mods allowing this.

 

[Forehand Of Doom]

Another thread about No1e opened by notorious hater with the intention to catalyze bashing and hating on No1e. The forum is flooded by such threads by several persistent and pathetic haters. Not sure why are mods allowing this.

How is this thread meant to hate on Djokovic?

I don't think anybody is hating on Djokovic here.

 

[Burrow]

People on here really do not understand coaching whatsoever. We cannot answer this question with any accuracy.

 

[TheBigFourFTW]

People on here really do not understand coaching whatsoever. We cannot answer this question with any accuracy.

Coaching is mostly "behind-the-scenes" anyway so the whole thread behind it is kinda mute.

I think most people are responding to the effect or change in Djokovic's game since the arrival of Becker.

 

[Forehand Of Doom]

Coaching is mostly "behind-the-scenes" anyway so the whole thread behind it is kinda mute.

I think most people are responding to the effect or change in Djokovic's game since the arrival of Becker.

Yes, exactly. I think everybody judges a coach's job based on the changes perceived in the player being coached. I don't think it is an unfair thing to do. You could argue that some other factors can affect a player's performance besides a coach, but then complexity is a pervading factor in any real discussion, and some kind of modeling or abstraction needs to be done for the sake of being able to discuss the topic at hand.

I personally think Becker seems to have helped Djokovic in net game (and I'm talking here about overheads/drop volleys specifically, and not as much about how to integrate vertical movement into the overall game). At the same time, it's not clear how Becker as a coach could help Djokovic play better at the French Open. Becker's success as a player didn't come from Roland Garros, so I don't know what he can offer there.

Also, I think the timing of Becker's hiring (shortly before the AO in 2014) was extremely bad. This view is reinforced by Djokovic's loss there.

I personally don't think Becker has helped Djokovic's game tremendously, except in particular areas where he was very deficient, and where he is now a little more competent.