Novak Djokovic has admitted he isn’t “looking forward to” the chance of facing his former coach of 15 years in his next match at the French Open. Marian Vajda is now working with Slovak Alex Molcan, who will meet the top seed in the second round if he wins his opening match, and the Serb said it “wasn’t easy” for him when he saw his potential next opponent.
Djokovic and Vajda made the decision to split at the end of last season, announcing the news in March this year with the Slovakian coach wanting to reduce his travel throughout the year. But Vajda later admitted he would have been happy travelling to the four Grand Slams, though said he “never asked” the world No 1 if this was possible, and is now working with world No 38 Molcan instead.
And in Vajda’s first Grand Slam with his new charge, it could be an immediate meeting with his former player in the second round. With the top seed safely through following his straight-sets victory over Yoshihito Nishioka on Monday night, Djokovic now awaits the winner of a match between Molcan and Federico Coria, and confessed that it “wasn’t easy” to see Vajda’s new player in his draw.
“I’ve written to Marian a few days ago, we have seen each other here as well,” the defending champion said of his long-time coach and friend. “When I looked at the draw, it wasn’t easy, I must admit.” The 35-year-old admitted he had no problem facing Molcan, who was just like any other opponent, but felt uneasy about the potential of playing against Vajda for the first time in his career.
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“Molcan for me is an opponent just like any other, but I’ve never had Marian in the opposing box,” he continued. “To be honest, I am not looking forward to it.” Djokovic and Vajda decided to part ways during last year’s Nitto ATP Finals, when the 57-year-old was forced to fly in and assist his charge when Djokovic’s now-sole coach Goran Ivanisevic had to fly home when his daughter caught Covid.
It was their last tournament together, with Vajda absent from Djokovic’s camp when the Serb flew to Australia but was eventually deported, before they announced the news of their split almost three months ago. But in a recent press conference, Vajda admitted that he would have been happy joining the world No 1 at the Majors, though thought Djokovic wanted to go in a different direction with just Ivanisevic in his camp.
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While confirming his new partnership with Molcan earlier this month, Vajda explained his split with Djokovic as he said: “It was a combination of various reasons: we have been together for a really long time and his decisions showed that he wanted to focus on Grand Slam tournaments – that is why he might think that it is not ideal to have so many people in his team. He wanted to reduce it and have only one coach.
“I don’t know for sure, because I never asked him, but I assume from my analysis of his tournament schedule, that he wanted to reduce his team, and he chose Goran Ivanisevic. It did not make sense for a coach to coach him only him on Grand Slams, because a coach needs a long-term plan.”
