Novak Djokovic: Andre Agassi Slammed After Split From Serbian

Andre Agassi has been slammed by former Serbia Davis Cup captain Radmilo Armenulic after the American and Novak Djokovic parted ways earlier this month.

Agassi joined Djokovic’s coaching team just ahead of the French Open in 2017, but their partnership failed to yield any form of success for the Serb as he has spent most of his time out injured in the last 12-months.

The former world number one ended his 2017 season after his loss at Wimbledon owing to an elbow injury and only returned at the start of the year. He suffered a recurrence of the injury during the Australian Open in January and was again out for over a month after undergoing a minor procedure to further repair the injury.

Djokovic returned to action at the BNP Paribas Masters in Indian Wells in March but was ousted in the second round by 109 ranked Taro Daniels. He suffered a similar fate at the Miami Open when he was knocked in the round of 64 by French man Benoit Paire.

Agassi confirmed the split earlier this month after revealing that he and the Serb often found themselves "agreeing to disagree" on matters. Former world number eight Radek Stepanek, who joined Djokovic’s coaching team at the end of last year following his retirement, is the only coach in the Serb’s team at the moment.

"I wish him only the best moving forward," Agassi said, as quoted by BBC Sport. "With only the best intentions, I tried to help Novak. We far too often found ourselves agreeing to disagree."

Agassi, who was for the first time taking up the responsibility of coaching an individual player on the ATP Tour, made little impact to Djokovic and was not able to lead him to any tournament wins during their short association.

The American has now come under criticism from former Serbian Davis Cup captain Armenulic, who made it clear he was always opposed to the idea of the former world number one coaching Djokovic.

The former trainer of Croatian star Goran Ivanisevic is of the view that Agassi would not have been able to help Djokovic improve his game as the 12-time Grand Slam winner is superior in all the departments Agassi excelled as a player.

“I was opposed to that co-operation since the first day because he didn't do anything for Novak,” Armenulic said, as quoted by Tennis World USA. “I think Novak helped him more because he made Agassi a coach. He left because he didn't know what to do.”

“He never worked as a coach and had no experience how to help Novak. Novak plays from the baseline better than Agassi and his return is better. Then how can Agassi help him?” he said.

Djokovic’s next assignment is likely to be the Monte Carlo Masters, which starts on April 14 to mark the beginning of the clay court swing of the season. The Serb has won the tournament on two occasions in the past, but will certainly not be among the favorites this time around.