Mark Nixon · @markalannixon
3rd Nov 2014 from TwitLonger
"Novak wasn't at all ready." Marian Vajda interviewed in l'Équipe by Franck Ramella.
You're happy?
"But it's not just because of this final, you know ... it's for the whole tournament after everything that happened last week. Basically, Novak wasn't at all ready after the birth of the baby. But he proved he could win a tournament of this importance under those conditions. And that astonishes me. After Shanghai he did almost nothing, you realize that ... A week off and then one hour a day in Monaco max. In any case there was only "GG" ( Gebhard Phil Gritsch, his trainer) in Monaco to take care of his physical training. And Sasha, the kinesiologist, the replacement for Milan who's also expecting. We'll be one big family in the group (laughs). We'll be nannies, we'll be pushing prams during some tournaments, a real kindergarten..."
Talk about Boris.
"Boris is more inside the team, more implicated. We've got used to each other. We understand each other better. It wasn't easy at the start. We didn't see each other much. But when we were together, we noticed that Novak was more motivated."
How is it working out between you?
"I'd say we've found a way of talking to Novak. It's a very free exchange and the makes him happy. It isn't the one talking about tactics and the other motivation. We both can talk about them, depending on who has a better sense of how to approach a match against a certain opponent."
You'll be there all the time then?
"But you know I have my girl to help (Natalia Vaidova). She's nineteen, she's starting to enter the ranking, number 700 something. It's nice for me to be with my family. I'm more relaxed that way, I'm fresher for the tournaments I share with Novak."
Novak was impressive in the final.
"Fantastic even. Did you see those returns? My god. And they were arriving at 224 km/h, at 228, at 230. He found a way to get at them. The advice was, "be ready. More than when you've played him before, in Rome especially. Take your chances by being focussed on every shot." I told him before the final that he still had room for improvement. The matches before were bizarre. Novak wasn't really relaxed that week."
Because of Federer gunning for number one?
"Sure he wants to be number one. It would be a shame not being it after all that effort, no? But seeing Federer climb like that motivated him. Maybe that's what gave him energy again after two weeks of almost doing nothing with all the focus on the baby."
Has fatherhood changed him?
"Yes it's changed him! He's relieved. In China, the waiting was getting to him, disturbing him. I'm saying that now, but he played incredibly there. China, it made him a bit crazy. The people love him there. I got the impression that it gave him incredible energy. Against Berdych in the final, I've never seen a match like that in my life. Everything was working, boom, boom, boom. He told me when the match was over, 'I played a dream match.' Pure perfection."
How is the season so far?
"I'd say that with only one Slam, it's not totally satisfactory, relatively speaking of course! But for him, I hope for more. At the Australian Open, he hadn't everything in order. Roland Garros, it was disappointing. The more the Rolands go by, the more difficult it gets. Wim was a fantastic effort. But the US Open, he wasn't really there. The Wimbledon title and the marriage took a while to be processed, and that meant the recovery and preparation weren't good enough."
What can be done to fine tune?
"Novak needs to finish certain points faster. We'll work on it, but it's a balance that needs to be found. He's not Federer. He needs to construct his points. We've changed his service motion a bit. His accuracy is fantastic, but we still can get a bit more power."