Novak Djokovic goes for nuclear option in bid to arrest worrying slump | Kevin Mitchell


In dispensing with the close-knit support team that helped him to 12 slam titles, Djokovic looks desperate to end his struggles since last year’s French Open

It will be surreal in the extreme when Novak Djokovic goes on court in defence of his title in Madrid next week, glances up at his box and the growling, comforting countenances of his fiercely loyal Serbian friends are missing. The troubled world No2 called the nuclear clearout of his support staff on Friday “shock therapy”. And it does have the unmistakeable ring of a psychiatrist’s formula, a decision reached after a deep discussion about life and tennis. It also has the ring of desperation.

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