Andy Roddick believes there are suitable candidates for the role of Novak Djokovic's new coach, even though he may not need one.
It has been a week since Djokovic shocked the tennis world by announcing that he was splitting with Goran Ivanisevic. It ended a hugely successful partnership, which saw the Serbian win 12 Grand Slams.
Djokovic currently has no clear idea about his next move after making that decision. It will be interesting to see if he has a coach in place for the Monte-Carlo Masters, with Djokovic and Nadal currently on the Monte-Carlo entry list.
Ivanisevic named who he thinks is the perfect person for Djokovic. His opinion will certainly be valued and respected after doing a superb job as a member of Djokovic's team since 2018.
Roddick has now weighed in on the situation on his podcast. He feels Djokovic is likely to want a coach he knows well, which is why Marian Vajda could be a good choice, having worked with Djokovic from 2006-2017 and 2008-2022.
"So my mind automatically goes to Marian Vajda because that’s the guy who’s in and then he’s out and then he’s sometimes back in, it seems like this consistent insurance policy. And he’s, more so than anyone else, helped develop Novak and turn him into the person and not just tag along on other successes."
The second option Roddick provided was another one of his former coaches Boris Becker, who recently had a very short stint coaching Holger Rune, before stopping due to not being able to give a big enough time commitment. But Roddick thinks Djokovic may not mind this.
"You know another name that Novak, to his credit, really stood by during rough times, who didn’t work in his most recent coaching gig, is Boris Becker. They had a lot of success and so if I’m Novak and I have a hitting partner and I have all this infrastructure, maybe I don’t need someone there all the time."
Despite those suggestions, Roddick did also highlight how good Djokovic is by joking that his cat could probably coach him with some degree of success.
"But it’s already weirdly framed question because, does he need a coach? Like I think my cat could coach him and do a pretty good job, probably win a bunch of matches"
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