What a guy, btw who is that lady sitting b/w Novak and Jelena? I see her everywhere, is she family?

June 21st, 2016 at 10:41 am

Watch out joker, next time you’ll get mugged!

June 21st, 2016 at 10:47 am

Oh he is definitely going to get mugged in London………..

BY ANDY ;0)

June 21st, 2016 at 11:10 am

@anki
The lady is a part of his management team, one of his agents. Her name is Elena Cappellaro, she’s Italian just like his other agent Edoardo Artaldi. You can see them often in his box during important matches.

June 21st, 2016 at 11:52 am

I looove how Novak looks: happy, relaxed, fit, confident… The video he did from the Wimbledon practice courts was amazing. A friend of mine who went to his event at Uniqlo in London said he spent time with all his fans, talked to them and spent hours taking pictures with each and every one of them…and never stopped smiling. He’s in a good place, so different to the tense, cranky Nole we saw in Rome.

@Anki
That lady is his personal assistant… an aunt, I believe. She’s not very popular with the nolefam, but that’s because we thought she was her PR pérson doing a lousy job and also because we’re all a little jealous. :D She’s with him all the time, and watches all his matches… Not a bad gig. :)

June 21st, 2016 at 12:01 pm

@Vami
Are you sure Elena is Novak’s agent? In that case we were right: she’s doing a lousy job. Instead of watching his matches she should be behind the scenes, listening to the gossip, getting Novak prepared for the tricky questions he might get at pressers, trying to conreol the narrative a little, like other players’ agents do. :<
I was told she was his personal assistant, and that she was family…

June 21st, 2016 at 3:57 pm

Great to see you here, Yolita!
Are you going to be in London next two weeks?

June 21st, 2016 at 4:05 pm

@Vami and @Yolita Thx for that. If she is part of PR team, then she is doing a very bad job indeed as Yolita said.

June 21st, 2016 at 4:48 pm

@Yolita
Her job is not easy, she has a perfect product to sell but obstacles are everywhere… how do you deal with that?

BTW, if I was Elena I’d get you and mat4 free tickets and accommodation for each slam. She has no clue how much you guys do for Novak globally. I’m not kidding ;-)

June 21st, 2016 at 4:49 pm

Novak thinks she is an important part of his team synergy, including her in post-win locker room celebrations and team trophy photos. So if the Boss, the best in the business, likes her role and contribution, she is golden. Also see her at practices and helping them run smoother. If that means chasing balls, she will chase down balls and be happy doing it.

He’s got IMG International in charge of orchestrating his PR across countries, wooing endorsers. If there is an actual PR outreach shortfall, and they wish her to do more behind the scenes, look to them as the ones not “orchestrating” things enough..

The practice court video Yolita mentioned..quintessential Djokovic. Offbeat, sometimes goofy spur of the moment Cinema Verite`. Hanging with the ground crew, trying to get the mower guy to wave to him, analyzing the grass condition, flirting with a woman groundskeeper, thrilled when he did get a waveback from the mower guy. Introducing the shy German junior ‘Stephan’ that Boris rounded up as a hitting partner as the ladies man of Germany, a sweet playboy..as the smaller lad denied he was anything like that. Pointing out to Becker it is 12,000 viewers seeing yhis happening on live feed and here is a comment that Boris has the greatest smile ever, getting another great smile from him. (Boris, BTW, seems to have really turned the page on his health. Looks years younger than when he signed on with Djokovic. Slim and toned.)

A few years back, 2013 I think, Djokovic skipped the warmup events and decided to take a mini vacation in Scotland before Wimbledon started. Passed Dunblane and Djokovic got excited seeing the sign and turned back and got video and some pics of he and Jelena cavorting and mugging, hanging on the sign. Sent pics to Andy, no comment, who then had a big WTF?? moment.

June 21st, 2016 at 5:42 pm

@Travis

Thank you, Travis! No, I won’t be in London these 2 weeks, sadly. I fact, this year I won’t go to the WTFs either, I’ll visit the UK in September. I’ll watch form home. :D

@Vami
Thank you for your kind words. I wouldn’t mind seeing Novak in all the slams. But let me tell you that when Novak followed me on Twitter, I felt ridiculously happy! How irrational is that? .p

June 21st, 2016 at 8:48 pm

Djokovic follows you on Twitter, Yolita, And you feel happiness is irrational on that? Nope, lots of years of being one of the best commenters tracking what Movak is doing got you earned recognition at the top of the pyramid!

BTW, Tignor seems to be doing penance on his ridiculous Top 20 Of The Last Decade list (Serenas SF collapse at the 2015 USO the 2nd best match of the decade, etc. Har-har-har.)- so he did a piece today on Novak and LeBron James as THE exceptional stars amidst other stars.

His tennis dot com piece has this:

Too early to do GOAT discussions but…..
“What Djokovic showed in Paris was an all-around mastery unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

June 21st, 2016 at 9:30 pm

Artaldi is his PR agent, but Cappellaro is travelling all the time with him.

You also have to… have in mind that Novak has to address the European and Chinese market, and that some things that don’t seem PC are very well viewed in Japan, China…

You perhaps can’t wear Uniqlo, aiming at the Chinese market, and ask for same money for men and women.

Then, in countries out of the anglo-saxon world, speaking of differences (as he did, in a positive manner) does not have to be taboo. Jelena Jankovic, e.g., didn’t hesitate to reveal that she lost a match for this reason. We could also be writing of Serena’s decline, while she had physiological problems in the final of her last slam and couldn’t move freely.

June 21st, 2016 at 9:34 pm

So, I think that Artaldi and Cappellaro do a good job, focusing on Novak’s main markets. The Chinese first lady visited his training facilities in Belgrade, and offered his mother the Chinese translation of Novak’s book.

I guess that Uniqlo, which is focused on the Chinese market, did a great job.

June 21st, 2016 at 9:42 pm

@CF1:

I commented Tignor’s article on a nearby thread. Tignor still insisted on “four in a row”, described the semi instead of the final (where Novak played an exceptional second set at least, although the semi was great), and he tried to be sorry without making apologies (if one could say this way). But he was cut to pieces in the comments, especially by the wolfprincessfromacertainmountain.

June 21st, 2016 at 9:48 pm

Very tempted to post a verrrry long spiel about you-know-who on here……but as I am not an agent provocateur I won’t. ;)
Nice to see Nole using the best way of getting round London, but not at rush hour!
Peter Fleming uses the tube to get to and from Queens but many less illustrious commentators use flashy cars. Good for him too. And me oh my he looks good in a grey suit with a rolled umbrella, aging rather nicely.

June 22nd, 2016 at 1:27 am

Great to see someone so rich and famous, been just like any other normal guy, and catching the London tube, bet he was absolutely mobbed by autograph hunters lol ….

June 22nd, 2016 at 12:01 pm

i like so see some facial hair on a man, but i like a man whos not afraid to look a bit rough soometimes, Novak looks very nice here, and Roger looked nice with a beard too ;-)) ….

June 23rd, 2016 at 11:32 am

@Willow – I don’t usually like facial hair on men but I was thinking too that it suits Novak and also looked good on Roger.

June 23rd, 2016 at 11:35 am

^And Hasse ;-)) ….^

June 23rd, 2016 at 11:49 am

^ and Gulbis!

June 23rd, 2016 at 2:03 pm

Eww sorry no RZ ….

June 23rd, 2016 at 2:06 pm

Hahaha Willow. I like Gulis more for the entertainment factor, not the looks. His facial hair goes with his big hair when he lets it grow out. I just get a kick out of it.

On a more serious note, Chardy usually has a beard and is a nice looking fellow. And of course there’s Feliciano who looks good no matter what.

June 23rd, 2016 at 3:06 pm

For Nole fans, nice words from Guga about Nole, he thinks that Nole will have fan support in Rio due to his popularity in Brazil and Guga is almost certain that Nole will became the GOAT very soon if already he isn’t considering how dominant Nole is now, “two steps ahead of others according to Guga, unfortunately I don’t have english version of Guga’s thoughts, but you can google translate Serbian:

http://www.rts.rs/page/sport/sr/story/38/tenis/2362353/kuerten-novak-favorit-u-riju-imace-i-podrsku-publike.html

I guess Guga knows what he is talking about or those “knowledgeable” TX fans will declare him bandwagoner too, since they are running out of arguments, first Mr Laver, now Guga and few other greats, the tide is turning ..

June 23rd, 2016 at 5:54 pm

Wogboy Well from a neutral POV, IMO Guga is completely right, im a fan of niether Roger or Novak, so i have no axe to grind, and i dont really care about the GOAT debate that much if im honest either, anyway Novak did something Roger / Rafa didnt by winning 4 in a row, he also won all his GS by beating the very top players, sometimes 2 or 3 of the very top players to win all his GS, i believe his run has been harder than Rogers, but thats just my opinion ….

June 24th, 2016 at 5:41 am

RZ I agree on Chardy and Feli, but i find nothing attractive what-so-ever about Gulbis , i find the guy a bit sleazy and quite repulsive TBH, and the way he talks about women urgh ….

June 24th, 2016 at 7:02 am

In Novak’s half: Federer, Raonic, Nishikori, Goffin… Just one player is absent from his part… Murray?

June 24th, 2016 at 7:37 am

Mat4 left you a post on the other thread, apologizing for ranting and raving, and for calling Novak fans a cult, and reffering to this forum as Novak-x, i dont know if you saw it ?, it was for you as you were on the recieving end of my rant ….

June 24th, 2016 at 7:53 am