Novak Djokovic’s assistant coach Craig O’Shannessy has revealed the big secret behind the success of World No. 1 Roger Federer and reigning French Open champion Rafael Nadal.
According to Craig O’Shannessy, who joined Djokovic’s coaching team in December 2017, Federer and Nadal are playing the best tennis of their lives. In fact, the Swiss and Spaniard are still improving as tennis players and continue to dominate men’s tennis, splitting the last five Grand Slam titles between them.
“This is the best Roger Federer has ever played,” Craig O’Shannessy told Yahoo.
“He is serving better than ever, 80 per cent and 59 per cent of first and second service points won and his backhand is far better than it was during his ‘peak years’ over 10 years ago.
“That is why he has been able to dismantle Nadal in a way he never previously could.
“Nadal arguably had his best ever clay court swing in 2017. He won 56 per cent of all points that he played last year, which is the first time he has done that.
“When he won nine out of 10 French Open’s he was winning 56 per cent of all his points, so that shows how well he was playing.
“Novak and Murray all had their best years over 2015 and 2016, when they were 28 and 29 respectively.
“You don’t just stop improving when you hit 25 – practice makes perfect.
“The best way to improve is to play against the best week in and week out. The more you do that over the years, the better you get at it.
“I mean look at Federer finally getting the better of Rafa at 35. Looking at the stats, I believe people are peaking in their late 20s to early 30s.
“We are seeing the benefit of players having their own physios on tour, expert nutritionists, strength and conditioning coaches and the prize money has shot up – that allows you to pay for all of this. This was unheard of a couple of decades ago.”
