Rick Macci Analysis: Novak Djokovic

Legendary coach Rick Macci has been delivering succinct analyses of the games of several leading pros through in depth interviews with Florida Tennis editor Jim Martz. Macci continues in this post with recent US Open champion Novak Djokovic.

Early on when he first came on the Tour, I knew he was always going to be an amazing player, just because of his movement. I like his flexibility. Technically he is sound.

But as time went on - I think this is a great lesson for anybody - he has made himself a champion. He has put in the work and become so mentally strong.

You know, it’s not where you start it’s where you finish. And if you look as time went on, he has evolved as a competitor and as an athlete, changing his diet. He has made himself a champion. He had a lot of the qualities, but he made himself that.

He’s probably going to go down as the greatest male tennis player to hold a racquet. He’s not going anywhere, barring injury. I see four, five, six more Slams in this guy. He’s not going to hand it over to the young guns. People know you’re going to have to beat him, he’s not going to beat himself.

Can he stay motivated? How bad does he want to vIt’s not about X’s and O’s, it’s not about anything other than his thirst for competition and his thirst for his legacy. This is about his greatness now. How many more does he want to get? How many more Grand Slams does he want?

He doesn’t need to play, he doesn’t have to play, but he wants to play. And so that being said, when he feels he doesn’t have that passion, he might call it game, set, match.

But this guy has a lot left in the tank, he’s not going anywhere, and trust me, he could get on a run and he could really dominate now because he’s looking at no Federer in my way, there’s no Rafa, there’s no Murray. And even though the young guys are coming, they still don’t have experience like the Joker. He’s not going anywhere.

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 Interview with Rick Macci by Florida Tennis' Founder and Editor Jim Martz. Photos (from top to bottom): Hanson K Joseph (CC BY-SA 4.0); @ArtSeitz; @ArtSeitz. This article also appears in the September-October 2023 issue of Florida Tennis Magazine. Be sure to subscribe for expanded coverage, exclusive interviews, and in-depth tennis news.