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On the eve of The Championships, Novak Djokovic’s new coach, Andre Agassi, said his protege didn’t need a break.

On Day 9, Djokovic revealed he had aggravated a long-term elbow injury that had bothered him for the past 18 months during his quarter-final. Trailing Czech Tomas Berdych by a set and a break, the former top-ranked Serb was forced to throw in the towel.
“Now I am paying interest for all these years as a professional,” Djokovic said during the Serbian part of his press conference. “My body is giving me signals.”
He wouldn’t rule out surgery and hinted he could take an extended break to let the injury heal.
“I'm just going to talk with specialists, as I have done in the last year or so, try to figure out what's the best way to treat it and to solve it, to find a long-term solution,” Djokovic said. “Obviously short-term it's probably rest [that] is most appropriate. We will see.”
His participation in the US Open at the end of August, the season’s final Slam where Djokovic is a two-time champion, appears uncertain.
After losing his Roland Garros title in a lacklustre quarter-final defeat to Austrian Dominic Thiem last month, former players including Mats Wilander said the 12-time Grand Slam winner should take some time off because his years of domination appeared to have taken a toll on him mentally.
It looked like Djokovic was heeding that advice when he decided not to play either at Queen’s Club in London or in Halle, Germany. Then came a surprise turn of events, with Djokovic accepting a wild card into Eastbourne. Playing the week before a Grand Slam event was something he hadn’t done for 11 years.
Now I am paying interest for all these years as a professional. My body is giving me signals
- Novak Djokovic
When he won the title, looking more relaxed and happy to be on a tennis court than he had done for months, it initially looked like his gamble had paid off. But his body paid the price at Wimbledon.
“The intensity and the level of pain was not decreasing,” Djokovic said. “It was only increasing as the days went by. Actually, I started feeling it already more or less at the beginning of the tournament.”
On the Friday before The Championships, Agassi had dismissed any talk of a career break for Djokovic, with whom he started working in Paris after the Serb parted ways with his entire coaching team.
“What’s really beneficial is being clear,” former Wimbledon winner Agassi told the Reuters news agency. “A break isn’t beneficial if you’re not giving yourself a break because you know you want to be doing something else.
“Playing isn’t beneficial when you’re spent and you feel like you need a break and your team’s pushing you to play. So does he need a break? No, I think he’s ready and he has clear objectives.”
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Agassi, a former world No.1, overcame a mid-career slump in his late 20s to win five of his eight Slams before retiring at the age of 36. Djokovic’s mind may be up to it, his body most definitely no longer is.
The 30-year-old right-hander will take heart from Roger Federer, who took six months off last year to recover from knee surgery. Refreshed, the 35-year-old Swiss stunned the tennis world when he won his 18th Grand Slam event at the Australian Open in January.
“Novak's not missed any Slams basically,” Federer said after beating Milos Raonic of Canada in straight sets to move to the semi-finals. “I don't want to say sooner or later these things unfortunately happen, but he's played a lot of tennis in recent years. For him to be hurt at some stage is only normal.”
Federer was the only one of the so-called Big Four who skipped the clay court season to let his mind and body rest. With Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and defending champion Andy Murray now all out of Wimbledon before the semi-finals, the Swiss is the last of that group - now all over 30 - still standing.
Everything changes when you enter your fourth decade, according to Federer.
“You've got to look back and think of how much tennis have I played, how much rest did I give my body over the years, how much training have I done, did I do enough, did I overdo it or not enough?” he said.
He also had a warning for Djokovic.
“The problem is you can only play with a certain injury for a certain amount of time, because what you don't want happening is that it becomes chronic,” Federer said.
“Then even a surgery can't help you that much any more. That's why I'm happy I've had to take my first surgery really only at 34, 35 years old. That was a blessing.”
Follow the latest news and scores from Wimbledon 2017 on Wimbledon.com or Apple TV, or download the official IOS or Android apps for smartphone and tablet.

Radek Stepanek wyjawił, że będzie głównym trenerem Novaka Djokovicia. Czech ma towarzyszyć serbskiemu tenisiście przez cały sezon. Z kolei Andre Agassi będzie pojawiał się tylko na najważniejszych turniejach.


Dla Radka Stepanka to pierwsza praca w roli trenera. Czech dołączył do sztabu Novaka Djokovicia zaledwie 15 dni po tym, jak zakończył karierę tenisisty. - Długo rozważałem tę ofertę. Sprawy finansowe nie były dla mnie główną motywacją. Praca z tak wielkim tenisistą to zaszczyt, ale i odpowiedzialność - mówił.


Pepe Imaz: Ludzie zaczęli krytykować Novaka, bo jako życiową drogę obrał filozofię miłości
Czech będzie tworzył sztab szkoleniowy Djokovicia wspólnie z Andre Agassim. - Rozmawiałem z Andre. Nadajemy na tych samych falach. Ja będę pracował z Novakiem każdego dnia, a Andre będzie pojawiał się tylko na najważniejszych turniejach. Uważam, że szybko przyzwyczaję się do nowej roli - wyjaśnił.
- Najważniejsze, abyśmy się rozumieli i wiedzieli, czego chcemy. Do tej pory wszystko kręciło się wokół mnie. Teraz wszystko będzie kręcić się wokół Djokovicia. Spróbuję pomóc Novakowi osiągnąć maksimum - dodał 39-latek z Karwiny.


Djoković rozpoczął ostatni etap przygotowań do nowego sezonu. Wspólnie z Agassim i Stepankiem trenuje w Monte Carlo. Do rozgrywek planuje powrócić w pierwszym tygodniu 2018 roku w Dosze. Wcześniej, w dniach 28-30 grudnia, ma zamiar wziąć udział w pokazówce w Abu Zabi. Będzie to jego pierwszy start od lipca.

Andre Agassi remembers Radek Stepanek as a 6-foot-1 pro from the Czech Republic who fought to keep his career viable despite multiple neck and back injuries. While Stepanek fell into journeyman status as he battled these health issues deep into his 30s, his decision-making on the court never suffered.

So when it came time to look for a co-coach to accompany Novak Djokovic on the ATP Tour in his crucial, upcoming comeback year, Agassi pointed Djokovic toward Stepanek.

Bold move. Stepanek, 39, who signed on with the Djokovic team last week, had a colorful, sometimes controversial, career. To many fans, he's known mostly for his bizarre victory celebration dubbed "The Worm."

Stepanek can't match eight-time Grand Slam champion Agassi's record. But he had a disruptive style of play and earned a considerable reputation as a student of the game. It was evident in his chameleon-like ability to change tactics in a match, as well as his mastery of the net game. Stepanek's volleying prowess helped earn him two Grand Slam doubles titles. (The closest he came to singles glory was a pair of Masters 1000 finals.)


Novak Djokovic has won just three titles since the 2016 French Open. Julian Finney/Getty Images
Djokovic might want to tap into Stepanek's expertise in ending points, especially at the net, now that the Serbian former No. 1 has crossed the threshold of 30.

For months, Djokovic wallowed in on-court shortcomings and injuries. What was an aberration became commonplace in his results. Djokovic found himself falling to players such as Tomas Berdych, Dominic Thiem, David Goffin and Nick Kyrgios (twice). Since winning the 2016 French Open, Djokovic has captured just three events, and only one at the 1000 level.

The most valuable thing Stepanek brings to the table immediately is his hands-on experience with most of the current players, including the elite ones whom Djokovic will have to overcome as he tries to plow his way back to the top on 2018.

Stepanek, who last played a singles match this past January at the Australian Open, is also familiar with how Djokovic's game will look to rivals and how they might attack it. Stepanek played Djokovic 14 times, losing 13 of those matches.

Stepanek spent only 10 weeks in the top 10 -- and that was a decade ago -- but he was sometimes accused of stepping over the line, whether it was showmanship or gamesmanship. He no doubt will bring a strong third personality into a team already consisting of two outsized ones. Could that be an issue? Not according to Agassi.

"In my estimation and experience, the best coaches in the world are overachievers," Agassi told ESPN.com in a text message from Monte Carlo, where Djokovic's team is currently working out.

"Overachievers need to adapt, to improvise and overcome. They find ways to maximize the upside while containing their downside. Add a strong work ethic with years of success -- plus a kind spirit -- and that's what Radek brings to the table."

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Djokovic brings aboard Stepanek as coach
Novak Djokovic is bringing aboard former top-10 player Radek Stepanek as a coach.
Djokovic said he pursued Stepanek on Agassi's suggestion. It was the kind of proactive maneuver that is more evocative of an NFL general manager than a coach of a tennis megastar, even one of the vaunted supercoaches. It reveals the depth of trust Djokovic places in Agassi and showed the degree of commitment Agassi brings to his role as Djokovic's coach and mentor. This choice might be surprising, but it was not hastily conceived.

Adding Stepanek has solved one of the major challenges Djokovic faced. Agassi is an educator and entrepreneur with a broad palette of interests and obligations. From the start of his relationship with Djokovic last May, Agassi has said his presence at tournaments will be limited, probably to the Grand Slam events.

"I've talked about this [situation] with Andre a few times and he was excited about [Stepanek]," said former Agassi coach and current ESPN tennis analyst Brad Gilbert. "If Andre gives his blessing to the guy, that's 50 times good enough for me."

Bent on self-reliance, Djokovic fired his entire team in early May of last year, clearing the decks for Agassi's eventual role. But Djokovic continued to struggle, failing to win an event on clay and meekly surrendered his French Open title. In disarray and suffering from a persistent elbow injury, Djokovic withdrew from the 2017 season following an early Wimbledon exit.

With Stepanek on board, Djokovic will always have a coach on hand as he tries to rebuild his ranking from its present No. 12.

Whatever happens, the Agassi-Stepanek team will be hard-pressed to match the record Djokovic compiled with his last coach, Boris Becker. Together, they won six Grand Slam titles in three years. But Djokovic is in a different place now, recovering from a period of personal turmoil as well as a bum elbow. He's entering the final phase of his career, just as his new coach is leaving his -- and embarking on a new one.

Unlike Agassi, who once sought to flee tennis, Stepanek said when he recently retired that he really wanted to stay in the game.

You might say he's landed in butter.