Marco Panichi has expressed some interesting considerations in view of Paris Olympics
Marco Panichi, former athletic trainer of Novak Djokovic, talkede about the state of mind with which the Serbian faces events with the jersey of his beloved Serbia, during an interview with Tennis Talk, a show broadcast on Italian TV SuperTennis program. For Nole, as we know, playing for Serbia is always an honor and a burden, where managing the pressure and expectations becomes more complicated to handle.
“He creates enormous expectations. We all know what he has won, but when you play in teams – even in less important competitions like the ATP Cup or the United Cup – he feels a lot of pressure. He won the United Cup with Serbia, but he played badly. He feels a lot of pressure and enters the court with a monstrous tension, which he cannot manage very well. He played badly, for example, even the matches valid for the bronze medal
Every time he has that jersey to defend, he feels enormous pressure to win the point and be the one who takes Serbia forward. They are a very united people. He is an expert tennis player, but when he plays a team competition it is always a huge burden for him,” he said.
The love that Novak Djokovic feels towards Serbia has always prevented him from playing to his full potential in team competitions or at the Olympics. The pressure that the Serbian player faces in these events is so high that not even a champion like him is able to manage the important moments with his usual calm.
What happened at the Tokyo Olympic Games is a clear example of his history at the Olympics. Ahead by a set and a break in the semifinal against Alexander Zverev and after dominating the previous matches, Djokovic suddenly collapsed and lost the possibility of competing for the gold and also the chance to win the bronze medal by surrendering to Pablo Carreno Busta.
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