I found the above interview with Becker quite inspirational and on point.
“His time was with [Rafael] Nadal, with [Roger] Federer. Andy was always the fourth guy. So he lost a little bit of his opponents. Murray is showing something he hasn’t shown before.”
Becker bringing up Federer and Nadal’s absence is not something new to me. It is something I have thought about and I agree that their absence had an impact on Djokovic. Federer was his main competition from Wimbledon 2014 to the Australian Open of 2016.
During that time they met in three slam finals and a slam semi-final. That rivalry really motivated Djokovic but also the rivalry with Nadal. Federer and Nadal were always Djokovic’s main competition so I think their absence played a role in his slump.
That is not the only reason. The fact that Djokovic won the personal slam and finally won that elusive French Open, coupled with the absence of Federer and Nadal doesn’t make it all that surprising that he struggled with motivation.
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