John McEnroe: I thought to myself ‘that kid Djokovic has got some guts’, but if you told me then he would win 24 Grand Slams"

Former world number one John McEnroe believes that Serbia’s legendary tennis star does not need a coach. The 36-year-old is often regarded as the best player in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles. Djokovic has been playing without a coach since parting ways with the former Croatian tennis player Goran Ivanisevic after working with him for six years.

McEnroe was recently quoted in a report where he stated that passing a statement that Djokovic needs a coach is ‘laughable’ and that he cannot buy such claims. “As far as him needing a coach, I think that’s laughable,” said McEnroe. “As far as him needing someone to tell him what he’s doing on the court, I don’t buy that. If he wants someone around, that’s perfectly fine. It’s worked amazingly well as no one in their wildest dreams thought he’d win 24 [Grand Slams].

“I remember seeing him playing against Gael Monfils when they were both young and he won that match in five. I thought to myself ‘that kid Djokovic has got some guts’, but if you told me then he would win 24 Grand Slam, I’d have said you were mad. Now he is trying to win more and these first two rounds were a really good draw for him. Two guys that didn’t have a prayer to beat him. Let’s see how it goes when it gets tougher. Djokovic looks good. There are a few times when he was breathing hard and a few times it looked like he was going to fall over, but for the large there was no issue.”