Novak Djokovic Hopes To Carry On Deceased Coach Gencic’s Work

Written by: Staff on 4th June 2013

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

Novak Djokovic Hopes To Carry On Deceased Coach Gencic’s Work

epa03726871 Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action during his third round match against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 01 June 2013. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

There are plenty of coaches who have helped juniors become world-class pros such as Harry Hopman, Robert Lansdorp and Nick Bollettieri. Every tennis-playing country has at least one coach who has been lauded as a trailblazer. One of those, Jelena Gencic, passed away earlier this week and according to her primary student, Novak Djokovic, she was right up there with the world’s best.

“She never got married, she never had kids, so tennis was all she had in life,” Djokovic said. “She was 77 years old, and before she passed away two days ago, last week she was giving lessons to kids. So she didn’t really care about the nature of the illness. She had breast cancer. She survived that. She’s one of the most incredible people I ever knew. She was an incredibly intelligent woman. She knew exactly to recognize the potential of the tennis players. That’s why she, for me, is the best coach for that young generation that I ever met in my life.”

Djokovic is hoping to carry on the work of Gencic, who also coached a young Monica Seles. Clearly, the world No. 1 can’t be giving lessons while he is playing year round, but he does want to insure that kids in his country have an opportunity to get enough high-level instruction.

“We were very close throughout my whole life, and she taught me a lot of things that are part of me, part of my character today, and I have nicest memories of her,” said Djokovic, who last saw her in February. This is something that will stay forever, you know, and hopefully I will be able to continue and follow up where she stopped, with her legacy, because she left so much knowledge to me and to the people that were close to her. I feel the responsibility also to continue on doing that in the future to, you know, because she worked with kids between 5 and 6 years to 12, 13 years old, and she was dedicating all her life to that generation and to tennis She’s one of the most incredible people.”

Serbians are known to be very passionate and fiery. Djokovic is certainly like that on court, as are his countrywomen Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic.

Gencic was said to be calm and unruffled. Off court, her favorite male student is much the same.

“We are very emotional people, but we do have also the calm side of our culture and, let’s say, character,” Djokovic said. “She definitely was very composed, you know, person, very complete in every aspect of her life. She knew exactly what she needed to do, on the court. And also in her private life, she never showed her weakness. I think that’s something that I think everybody who knew her closely could learn from her, because, regardless of her injuries during her career when she was a national handball player ‑‑ and tennis, playing and coaching, she never showed that. She never showed when she was injured or sick, when she was unhappy. She was always trying to stay positive and smile, and she was transcending that to everybody who was nearby. And she was an incredibly intelligent woman.”

Djokovic, who will face Tommy Haas in the quarterfinal of Roland Garros, said that he does believe in destiny, and added that he also thinks that people can control their own destiny. He’s hoping that her last words to him on the phone come to pass and he ends up winning his first French Open title. If that occurs, he will surely dedicate the trophy to her.

“I feel even more responsible now to go all the way in this tournament.” I want to do it for her, because she was a very special person in my life. I remember the last conversation we had about Roland Garros, and she never held any words, to me or to anybody close. That’s why people respected her, because she was honest and open. She told me, ‘Listen, you have to focus, you have to give your attention to this tournament. This is a tournament you need to win.’ She was giving me this kind of inspiration and motivation even more. So now I feel in her honor that I need to go all the way. It gives me that inner strength to push even harder.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: French Open, Harry Hopman, Jelena Gencic, Nick Bollettieri, Novak Djokovic, Robert Lansdorp, Roland Garros, Serbian tennis news

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dusanVemic says:

June 4, 2013 at 9:25 am

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corina_nolefam says:

June 4, 2013 at 9:26 am

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mar1a_h says:

June 4, 2013 at 10:45 am

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NovakFanClub says:

June 4, 2013 at 11:11 am

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meokee says:

June 4, 2013 at 12:26 pm

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