Novak Djokovic will continue to have former American tennis star Andre Agassi as his coach next year.
The former world number one, Djokovic who is out of action till the end of 2017, will return to competitive tennis with Agassi still his coach according to his team.
12-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic had an under-par year 2017 till he decided to withdraw from the rest of the season. This happened after he was forced to retire from his Wimbledon 2017 quarter-final against Tomas Berdych because of an elbow injury.
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Djokovic and Agassi first got together as a team in the lead-up to the 2017 French Open and the pair worked together for a couple of months. After his withdrawal from the Wimbledon, there were question-marks around the sustainability of the partnership.
One of the reasons Djokovic tied up with Agassi as his coach last year was to overcome form issues that had seen him not make the final of four of the five Grand Slam tournaments he participated in over 2016 and 2017.
Also added to his coaching staff are Marco Panichi, who will act as his fitness coach and Ulises Badio, will play the role of his physiotherapist.
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In a press release, Djokovic’s team revealed:
“We can confirm that Agassi remains the head coach while Italian Marco Panichi will take over as the fitness coach and Argentine Ulises Badio is the new physio.”
“The only remaining issue is appointing a second coach and that will complete the staff accompanying Djokovic in 2018.”
And while he is still nursing his shoulder, Djokovic has himself shot off a warning for his opponents. In an interview he said he was happy to have taken the six-month long break to be able to recover from his issues and “organise my life in a way, to lay the foundations for my game”
When asked how much longer would he like to play, Djokovic responded:
“I’d like to say 10 years, so we’ll see how long I will last in professional tennis. I really have no fixed plans, nor is the end in sight.”
When Djokovic returns to competitive tennis before the Australian Open in January, he would have dropped outside the 10, while Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are expected to be in the top two or three, which could make his draw a very tough one.
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