First Look: Novak Djokovic With Andre Agassi On The Practice Court At The French Open

by Tom Gainey | May 25th, 2017, 11:06 am
  • 23 Comments

It’s really happening! Andre Agassi has joined Novak Djokovic’s team and is at the French Open with the Serb. The tournament has sent out this pictures of their first practice session on the grounds.

Via Google translation from L’Equipe, Agassi had this to say of the new partnership:

“With Novak, I am at the very beginning of my learning phase. I took pleasure from that first day together. I can not tell you too much, what’s important is him, not me.


“I hope to bring him mentally and technically but let me have time to learn.

“Our decision to work with Novak was made a short while ago. I have to leave next week for family reasons, for a long time programmed.”

Agassi last played the French Open in 2005 when he lost to Jarkko Nieminen in five sets. He’s been back since for sponsor functions and to hand the trophy to Roger Federer in 2009.

The two were together for about an hour on Court 5 with Franco Livi as the practice partner.


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23 Comments for First Look: Novak Djokovic With Andre Agassi On The Practice Court At The French Open

jane Says:

from BB to AA.
hoping this gives nole a spark. :)


Pamela Says:

Interesting combo….


Wog Boy Says:

He doesn’t need to teach him anything tennis wise, he needs to settle him down mentally and bring back confidence and belief. To clear his mind from that BS poison that is fogging his clear vision, you know which one, don’t you?
Nole is not Roger, he is not self sufficient that can play in front of empty box, he needs somebody in his box who lifts him up mentally, Nole feeds from the other people, the problem is in the last year or so he picked the wrong guy to feed from.
I liked Agassi as he was, imperfect human being, very much, glad to see him back on court. Good luck to both of them.


Daniel Says:

The best two returners ever on the same court. Nice!


Wog Boy Says:

This is video that I bumped accidentally into while searching for something else, in the first few seconds you can see Nole as 13 years old on tennis courts during the break cuddling with his youngest brother Djordje-Djole, picture says it all, he is same person today, if I only know how to eliminate those idiotic comments that fallow such a nice and warm clip:

https://youtu.be/2oXsw8odTK0


Daniel Says:

Also, last 5 years Djoko has finals 12′, semis 13′, finals 14′, finals 15′ and title 16. Yeah, he is 1-3 in finals in this spam compared to Nadal’s 3-0. But Nadal hasn’t make beyond QF in last teo years. He may feel some pressure later on.

Hard to not see one of the two winning this time. Just can’t see Wawa or Murray coming out of knowehre to win it. Andy delivevered in 15′ and 16′ but he was getting titles on clay. And even wawa made a semis somewhere. Now they did nothing.

Even tough they young ones are unexperienced in best of 5, think they have a better chance now. They are match grooved.

Let’s see the draw tomorrow. If Djoko and nadal are at the same side again, as it was in all three masters this year we may get an upset.


James Says:

Nadal – favorite. Djokovic – close second favorite. Everyone else go home. Outsider – maybe, just maybe Zverev can make a move.

Wimbledon is more uncertain this year than the French.


Van Persie Says:

I hope for the best here. Do not think AA can do more harm , than Djoko caused already to himself.
Good to know , that Nole is aware, that he cannot rely only on Pepe and Marko. This despair to have a coach during FO is a good sign.


Van Persie Says:

Also read, that Steffi convinced Andre, to accept “the job”. Thank you, Steffi!


Van Persie Says:

^ forgot to add a link, but there are several articles on this topic.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/agassi-rejected-djokovic-before-graf-intervention


Wog Boy Says:

VP,
Thanks for the link and this makes me believe that Agassi knows Nole more than an ordinary tennis spectator, finger crossed:

“What I know, with certainty, is that he can be even better. I think he can only improve, because he will understand how strong he is.”


Wog Boy Says:

^**
And thank you Steffi.


Van Persie Says:

WB,

6 GS with Vajda, 6 with BB…Agassi deserves the same, if not better, hehe ;)


Van Persie Says:

WB,

Sorry, it is in German, could not find anything about this in English.
1995 semifinals US Open Agassi- Becker. Becker send a “hand blown kiss” (do not know, if I translated this properly) after a good point. Agassi got mad. Funny story.

http://www.tennismagazin.de/news/kult-video-becker-verzweifelt-an-agassi/


Van Persie Says:

^^ Kiss was for Brooke Shields.


Willow Says:

RZ If your reading, are you doing a bracket challenge for the FO ? cheers in advance ….


Daniel Says:

Djoko and Nadal same side of semis.
Djoko gets Thiem QF and Nadal gets Raonic.

Nadal draw super easy, can not see him losing a single set to anybody before QF.
Djoko only has Simon R16 bit I tgink he can handle ot well and how he handles Thirm also, think we’ll get the clash of titan on semis.

Murray’s draw is harder. He gets DelPo R3 and has Zverev or Kei QF.


RZ Says:

@Willow yes I’ll have the bracket challenge set up soon


gonzalowski Says:

and Nadal could face Dimitrov, instead Raonic… remember AO, Rafa could win but finish exhausted.

Nole could meet Albert Ramos, before Goffin or Thiem


Daniel Says:

But in AO Nadal was building confidence and Dimi was on a roll. Now Diminis underperming (again) and Nadal is on a high.

Dimi would need the match of his life. He may get a set as he played Nadal tough before.


Truth Says:

Djoker, with focus, fitness & confidence, and empty box with no coach present, still is far better than all other guys because he can win with his A, B and C game on all surfaces. He also doesn’t rely on intimidation from the evil tv commenters to sabotage his opponents’ mindset.
Fed played a bunch of severely disturbed or weak lap dogs which caused the rabid media and deluded ex-players to elevate his reputation.
Once Fed faced relatively tough competition, he could lose matches while holding 2 set leads, 2 or 4 match points, 5-3 and 5-1 leads.
Since many years went by, Fed padded his resume to make it look far “superior”.
Even Fed’s weakest journeyman Slam opponents totally messed up their matches as a result of their pathetic worship for him and other factors like poor agility and injury.
He lost match points to the rib injured Djoker in the 2011 us open and hung on by a thread in the 2005 us open vs. the extremely impaired Agassi.
Notice how Fed & Nadal still couldn’t play each other in so many matches too.
Either they lost or they avoided playing each other or pretended they were horribly injured for 6 months.
In 2008, Fed claimed he was terribly disadvantaged like he claimed he was unable to move in 2004.
Yet he beat Tipsarevic & Davydenko.


chrisford1 Says:

Funny that Novak grew up with Pete Sampras as his idol, then slowly but surely, Novak became Agassi-like. A precision baseliner, a devastating return of serve ability, natural hitters who can take balls early and on the rise, a preternatural ability to “read” opponents and somehow know where there next shot is going. But each guy has a different personality, and their careers and abilities of course do not perfectly mesh.
Agassi will be part-time, but will be at boosting Novak’s mental strength and making small adjustments as he ages. Andre and Federer had great post-30 careers. Fed sure isn’t going to coach Novak, so that leaves Andre.
Nice that Steffi Graf encouraged him. She famously has only had a minimal involvement with tennis after retiring – focusing instead on building a rich, full life for herself when the Team Graf bubble life ended. She was the reason I thought Agassi has not going to coach – leaving her and the kids to travel the world again was hard to see and would only have happened with Graf telling him it was OK to mentor a fellow legend hit the road part-time and have success and fun -and not just stay in Vegas all the time with mentoring and boosting his Foundation’s kids.
I also give them props as a cool couple for how they throw out the stops and go all-out for killer Halloween outfits in full makeup.


Giles Says:

Joker says “Andre Agassi inspires me a lot”. Geez! He’s only been with Andre a couple of days and suddenly he’s inspired!!! What a load of BS! Typical!

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