The Nole (Talk) Show

Last night Nole appeared on a very popular Serbian talk show.

The host, Ivan Ivanovic is a great comedian and has had Nole in his show once or twice before.
He is also Nole's friend and asks very politically incorrect questions (one of the great benefits of Serbia not being in European Union    ).
He followed him in 2011 during that crazy streak and often provided some fantastic, straight after the match interviews from the tunnel.
I remember, it must have been 5 years ago, he asked Nole if he liked Nadal or Federer...the answer was as honest as the question...I loved it!

For those of you multi lingually talented people, here is the link to the show:



In it, Nole talks about how he wanted to quit tennis in 2010, how he wanted to kick Nadal's bottles, about Becker and many other things....
I have found a transcript of some of the Q&A, and will try and translate them later today as the weather seems it will hold for my tennis at 11   

Here it goes:


About his tennis beginnings:
Tennis is what's keeping me alive in this world. I remember I started at the age of 4 in Kopaonik. I am able to do something I have always enjoyed. It was love at first sight.
I was destined to be a tennis player. I had the support of my family and my club. The state helped a little. Everybody contributed what they could.

About his AO loss to Wawrinka:
He has deserved his win in Melbourne. He's been in the top 10 for years, but has never been able to play well consistently. He would always have a lapse, and I was expecting it to happen in this match, as well. But it didn't.

About Nadal's rituals:
Many of us have thought of knocking his bottles over walking past his chair before the match. At a Players' party in Monte Carlo a few years ago, Ivan Dodig did it in his on stage sketch. Nadal took it positively. But if I did it before a match, it would definitely disturb him and then everybody would criticise me.

About Boris Becker:
Marian Vajda is still my coach, but it was his initiative that Boris replaced him as my main coach. Having been fully dedicated to tennis for the last 30-40 years, he longed for some private life. He also saw I was losing some big finals in the last two years and felt it affected me mentally.
Here is where I quote one of my favourite athletes Michael Jordan: "I have fallen and lost many times - which is why I succeeded."
We were looking for someone who has been through the same and could understand the pressures I was fighting.
I noticed that after my loss in Melbourne, in this world where the guilt is always placed on someone else, people blamed Boris,  and nobody wanted to ask how much they had invested in themselves.
I am used to blaming  only myself after a loss. I can't share it. Nobody can help me in a match, I'm on my own there. Becker and I have just started working together, and I feel he can help me with the missing 5-10% in mental department crossing the line. He didn't come to change my game as I am already a complete player, despite there always still being room for improvement.
Melbourne was our first big test, we weren't successful, but we will succeed, of that I am sure.

He also said he was on the verge of quitting tennis in 2010, where he was struggling with not being able to get past both Federer and Nadal for such a long time, but managed to persevere.

Which reminds me of that 12/12 draw fix of him being in Fed's half.....


He said many more things, but this is the gist of it....

Great post nitb, thanks!

What else did he say about feds and nadal and liking or not liking them?

Thanks, LS.
in this interview he was very PR-ed about his "biggest three rivals" respect blah-blah...
But 4-5 years ago interviewed by the same guy, he just said it as it was....

In last night's show the guy also asked him what his biggest goal was for this year: recapturing number one or winning RG.
Nole said without any pause the only thing he is interested is winning GSs from now on.
He also said how he gets regularly pestered by media every year why he isn't repeating his 2011, and he said that every year is different, new guys are coming and everyone is improving, and also that getting to the top is much easier than staying there when in 99% of matches you are considered a favourite, and every time you lose you are seen as a failure.

noleisthebest wrote:In last night's show the guy also asked him what his biggest goal was for this year: recapturing number one or winning RG.
Nole said without any pause the only thing he is interested is winning GSs  from now on.
He also said how he gets regularly  pestered by media every year why he isn't repeating his 2011, and he said that every year is different, new guys are coming and everyone is improving, and also that getting to the top is much easier than staying there when in 99% of matches you are considered a favourite, and every time you lose you are seen as a failure.

He's wise... that's what seperates Federer from the Nadals, Djokovics...  the ability to hold #1 and defend,defend,defend all those points and pressure.

I like Djokovic when he speaks seriously and thoughtfully. He's one of the few that gives you more than just the preplanned talking points..

Yes seemed like it was a nice interview.

Yes, it was nice. There was a lot of humour involved, esp about Nadal's bottles, a bit difficult to translate, unfortunately.

After seeing the Talk Show, Nole's second coach, Niki Pilic said it was not only the frustration from not being able to break through Fedal, but also an amalgamation of things that made nim want to quit tennis in 2010;  apparently "Nole had had enough" and it was wining of Davis Cup at the end of 2010 that saved him.
I wonder what the things that made him "have enough of everything" were.
So much goes on behind the scenes...

Also, Pilic said he invited Ivanisevic (his ex-pupil) to have a hit with Nole and other boys when he was 14 in his Academy, and how he concluded "the kid with thick black hair" was definitely top 5 material.

It's interesting how playing for a team/country and having their support rather then the usual lonely self on the court made a big difference to Nole and even Murray who thrived in the Olympics.

It's nice that tennis players have the opportunity to play their sport both ways like that, both as individuals and as a team.

I wonder if DC is going to make any difference to Fed this year.

Did they ask him about marriage?

Yes, apparently he's got this game/deal with Jelena, where he has been proposing to her in every different place/town they happen to be between when they got engaged and the actual wedding date.
They showed one that even got filmed by Kusturica in which Nole is on his knee, acting the role of Romeo under a balcony....
So, as long as she says yes more than no, then he says he'll be happy.

The host was so funny puling his leg and cracking jokes at his own expense and teasing Nole about the "joys" of marriage...

What about Becker his new coach?

I thought it's good of him to go on record and speak supportively of Boris right after his AO loss. It reflects well on him. Any update on the renew relationship? I hope things will work out after the initial teething period.