Paris: Andre Agassi would not have come back to tennis if it weren’t for Novak Djokovic, a player he believes still has many other grand slam titles to win, the American said.
The 47-year-old agreed to coach Djokovic, who has been through a crisis of confidence since winning his 12th major title at the French Open.
Asked by French sports daily L’Equipe on Saturday if any other player could have drawn him back to a sport he once hated, Agassi said: “I don’t know. Novak inspired me, he gave me the desire to make that effort.
“Many other players have approached me before, I cannot say who. Novak is 30, he won 12 grand slam titles and I know he has the capacity to win many others.”
Agassi, who won eight grand slam titles himself, retired in 2006.
The former world number one is in Paris where Djokovic is defending his title, but will leave on holidays with his family next week.
“Novak is a good guy, and he’s a chance for this sport. And I can help him. I think he will get better every day,” he said.
“It’s inspiring to be with him. Sometimes you follow your heart and I think it’s the time for me to take care of this guy.”
Triple French Open champion Mats Wilander also identified a kindred spirit in Djokovic as he laboured his way into the last 16.
Djokovic looked neither convincing nor happy and Wilander, who scaled the heights of celebrity and tennis superstardom 35 years ago, spotted an all-too familiar malady gnawing at the man on centre court.
“It is hard,” Wilander said in an interview in the Roland Garros stadium.
“It is hard when you have won so much so young, or so unexpectedly. Hard to keep the appetite. With Novak, there seems to be something missing. I think I can see it... I know it happened to me.”
Wilander was cast into the blinding spotlight of celebrity in 1982 when, as a blond 17-year-old Swede, he won the French Open to captivate a tennis-watching public still mourning the premature retirement of tennis icon Bjorn Borg.
Little more than six months later Wilander won the second of his seven grand slam titles, in Melbourne, and that was when cracks began to appear.
“You lose your hunger. It first happened to me after winning the Australian Open in 1983. It happened after I won the 1985 French Open — well, because I met a woman — who I am now married to — so some things are more important.”
On Friday, 12-times grand slam winner Djokovic stumbled unconvincingly into the fourth round with a 5-7 6-3 3-6 6-1 6-1 win over world number 41 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.
His play was up and down, and Wilander suspects he knows the reason. “I think he has no problem winning... when he is winning, it is black and white... he knows how to win — he’s better than you. And when he is losing, that’s what seems to spark him.
“But when it is zero-zero, he seems he finds it hard to have the appetite. I understand that, I recognise it.
“You can’t just make it happen, it has to be solved in your heart. It’s like an animalistic feeling... it’s like a sense. It’s something you either have or not.
