The first edition of the Belgrade Open, an ATP 250 tournament, organized for the first time in the Serbian capital in November this year, was a real opportunity for all Novak Djokovic’s coaches to gather in one place. Everything is well known about Marjan Vajda, ambassador of Belgrade Open. He was with Novak Djokovic when he was on his way up and when he occupied the very top of the world tennis. He is still in Belgrade today. And what did the road to the top look like?
It was described by Zaga Aleksandric, Miroslav Gordic, Aleksandar Bolic, Marko Nesic and Dejan Petrovic, while Ladislav Kis is on the way with some new talents.
– From the moment when he stood in line with the other children for the first time at the camp on Kopaonik, they were all arguing, talking, and Nole reprimanded them: “Silence, I want to play!” – says Zaga Aleksandric. – From the first moment he listened and watched carefully. When you throw the ball to him, he returns every ball. Then you could see that he was very attentive, dedicated, very dexterous and agile. As an athlete, I knew very well who was going to become what.
Miroslav Gordic also sees Novak’s start differently.
– Since 1994, when we organized the first camp on Kopaonik, I worked with Novak. That’s where we found him! After the camp, he came to us at Partizan and until 1999 and the bombing, we spent every day on the court together. He was a little professional from the start. The way he behaves now, that’s how he behaved then. He never gets enough of tennis. We would beg him take a break. He was diligent, hardworking and that is why he is what he is. He was a true little professional – Miroslav Gordic describes him.
Aleksandar Bolic was with Nole during the bombing.
– I worked with Nole during the NATO bombing. The state of war did not hinder his work either. We worked out both in the morning and in the afternoon, and the air raid alerts didn’t keep us away from the court. Around 2002, we worked out together again, when he returned from Germany, together with Marko Nesic, and then he was super focused on tennis and it was clear that he would go far – says Aleksandar Bolic.
Marko Nesic continued.
– We first got in touch in 1998 when I returned from college. It was near the Belgrade heating plant that they bombed. I didn’t see anyone do that when I was young. He was simply not making any mistakes, he did all the exercises and keep working. A true professional. He was the same in the second part of our joint work. Focused and hard working. Admittedly, I was young and I didn’t see what Jelena Gencic and Nikola Pilic were talking about, that he would become the best, but I saw that it was fascinating. He was immensely disciplined and different from everyone I’ve worked with – says Marko Nesic.
Dejan Petrovic first saw Novak on the Gemaks courts when he was working with Ladislav Kis, while the latter was still an active player on the tour.
– I don’t know where to start about Novak. I saw him for the first time at Gemaks with Kis, and when he was 15 at Partizan’s courts I saw him running on the court before we started working out. At the age of 16, he was with me in Australia with the late Joco Lilic, and we worked with him for ten days and a few days at the Junior Australian Open, when he played in the semi-finals. Already in 2003, against Bulgaria, he was the fifth and sixth player in the Davis Cup with Bozoljac. Then we worked a little at the academy, after which he won the futures. We played together in Cacak, he won the singles, and we won the doubles together. After that we started together. I was his coach for the first three Grand Slams. And he made it to the third round of Wimbledon. In Australia, I introduced Novak to the press as the future number one. It was a good period, where we put Serbia on the world tennis map – concluded Dejan Petrovic.
