Novak Djokovic, ranked number four in the ATP rankings, started the preseason earlier than the rest of the top 10 by opting out of the ATP Finals in Turin and not having Serbia qualified for the Final 8 of the Davis Cup in Bologna. At 38 years of age, he knows that at the next Australian Open he may be facing his last chance to add another major to his record.It would be the 25th, the 11th on the courts of Melbourne Park. This would make him the record holder for Grand Slam titles, breaking the mark of 24 he shares with Australia’s Margaret Court.
Djokovic knows that in order to beat Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner (they have shared the last eight majors equally) he has to defy the passage of time.
That’s why he has hired Dr. Mark Kovacs, who supervises everything Djokovic does: physical conditioning, injury prevention, biomechanics, recovery and performance optimization on the court.
NCAA champion
Mark, a collegiate tennis champion, is the CEO and co-founder of the International Tennis Performance Association (ITPA), a tennis fitness education and certification company. He has also served as an executive for Pepsico, Gatorade and the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
Djokovic has always been ahead of the rest in terms of taking maximum care of his body with the aim of prolonging his career as long as possible. He has already confessed on more than one occasion that his goal would be to still be active at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
In 2010, the Balkan tennis playerhired the services of nutritionist Igor Cetojevic, who diagnosed him with gluten and lactose intolerance, prompting the drastic gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free diet. The tennis player’s episodes of allergies that conditioned his performance on the European clay court tour came to an end.
Novak, who began his preseason work in Qatar where he is the image of its airline, will fly directly in January to Melbourne without playing any tournament prior to the Australian Open (January 18 to February 1).
Read the full article here
