Roger Federer Retirement: Djokovic Says Legendary Swiss Would Make A Great Coach

Novak Djokovic has tipped the 20-time Grand Slam champ to succeed as a coach
11:00, 26 Sep 2022

Novak Djokovic has tipped Roger Federer to become a great coach if the Swiss legend decides that is what he wants to do next following the end of his playing career.

Federer played his final professional match on Friday at the Laver Cup, and Team Europe colleague Djokovic has tipped the 20-time Grand Slam winner to succeed in a mentoring capacity.

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“Of course Roger can offer a lot as a coach, if he chooses to do that – it is logical to expect him to be able to share so many useful and valuable things with anybody,." Djokovic explained. 

“If he ever considers doing that, I am sure he would bring a lot of positive things to improve that player, whether that be male or female, in every aspect on or off the court. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest players to play the game, and especially the way he played it effortlessly with his style. 

“People may just have thought it was all god-given talent, but he spent hours working on his game perfecting it to make it look that easy. And I respect that and knew what he went through to execute the shots. So he has the full package.”

If he hadn't already believed in Federer's ability to be a great coach, Djokovic was certainly won over by the 41-year-old's presence at the Laver Cup.

“We all benefited here. It is a unique experience of this tournament to have always someone in your ear every changeover, and that someone is one of your greatest rivals," added the reigning Wimbledon champion.

“It is interesting to get those insights into how they see the game and how they read the game, some tips and observations that might help. That is how I saw it and embraced it. My arm was sore after the two matches on Saturday night, I have been struggling with my right wrist for the last four or five days. 

“I had been keeping it under control but the two matches on Saturday night probably had an effect and today was not easy. I couldn’t serve as fast or as accurately as I would have liked to, and that affected the whole game.” 

DJOKOVIC WAS A TEAMMATE OF FEDERER'S AT THE WEEKEND'S LAVER CUP EVENT
DJOKOVIC WAS A TEAMMATE OF FEDERER'S AT THE WEEKEND'S LAVER CUP EVENT

And British three-time Grand Slam champion Sir Andy Murray also believes that Federer could be a great coach – but good-humouredly raised one possible area to be wary of if the Swiss legend goes down that road. 

Murray said: “The one thing that can be difficult when you are as talented and have as many options as Roger is to remember that not everybody can do the things he did. Roger might see a shot and be like ‘he should have played that one’, but he had the ability to play everything and had so many options at his disposal. That is the challenging thing as a coach sometimes, especially someone in his position. 

“But he is great on the side, he watches a lot of tennis and he loves the game. For ex-players who go into coaching that is really important, to stay current. You need to know a lot of the players, and study the matches to understand players’ strengths and weaknesses.”

Frances Tiafoe clinched Team World’s first-ever victory in the Laver Cup at London’s O2 Arena, coming back to beat Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas 1-6, 7-6, 10-8 having saved match points in the second set tiebreak. Earlier Auger-Aliassime beat a diminished Djokovic 6-3, 7-6. In the opening match on Sunday, Auger-Aliassime and Jack Sock had beaten Murray and Berrettini 2-6, 6-3, 10-8. 

Tiafoe said: “It is unbelievable to finally win the Laver Cup, I kept saying all week that this is our year and we weren’t going to see [John McEnroe] lose this for a fifth time. But Roger has been such an amazing ambassador for this sport, he is an even better man than player and we will all miss him dearly.”

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