Ivan Lendl - "The Smash is not Novak Djokovic's best blow"
Ivan Lendl knows how to win Grand Slam tournaments. And how to coach players to major wins. In a podcast with Patrick McEnroe, the 94-time tour champion analyzed the French Open 2020.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Oct 15, 2020, 12:18 pm
Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe, that was a rivalry that is often balanced on the edge of the sporty fair. Not least because Lendl snatched the title from the great American in 1984 after a 2-2 set deficit in the final of the French Open. A defeat that gnaws at John decades later, as he described in one of his two biographies.
There are no known animosities with Patrick McEnroe, the younger brother. And so in the latest edition of Patrick's podcast (“Holding Court with Patrick McEnroe”) there was a friendly conversation that mainly revolved around one topic: the French Open that has just ended.
Lendl's analysis of the final was as follows: “Nadal brought his forehand longline into play from the start. Then Rafa played his backhand cross extremely aggressively. And thirdly, Nadal has used the praise very often to get himself back into position because Novak Djokovic was not able to make the point with the smash. "That is a good strategy against the world number one, because the overhead don't be Djokovic's best blow. "Novak likes to place the smash and not just hit it."
Lendl also had to struggle with praise
He himself would have already had experience with this praise: When Tony Roche coached him, Roche repeatedly played these very high praises in training, according to Lendl. All Australians would have mastered this blow. It is very difficult to make the point directly from behind the baseline.
Lendl and Patrick McEnroe agreed that it would have helped Nadal on the ashes that he had become stronger and stronger over the years on other surfaces.
When asked about his own career, Lendl explained that he recognized early on how far one could get with hard work. This has led him to eight titles at the Grand Slam events and 94 tournament victories in total. With which the ex-coach of Andy Murray and Alexander Zverev takes third place in the eternal best list behind Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103). And his ambition also helped: he played exactly one basketball game with his school team. And found that the other children didn't want to win as much as he did. As a result, Ivan Lendl simply never came back.