Roman Prokes, The Man Behind Resurgence of Novak Djokovic

Published 09/15/2019, 6:49 AM EDT

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via Imago

World Number one, Novak Djokovic introduced certain changes in his racquet in the year 2017. World-renowned racquet-stringer, Roman Prokes studied the racquet swing of Djokovic. Later he suggested a few changes in his racquet and that created all the difference.

“It is somewhat predictable on the court where he can go with certain shots. Because the racquet wouldn’t allow him to use the whole court for certain shots. We actually took away a few strings, so he can generate some spin. We made the racquet lighter, the weight distribution on the racquet different. After two minutes of hitting, Novak basically said, throw all my racquets away this is my new racquet,” the racquet wizard Prokes said.

via Imago

Novak Djokovic uses an extended racquet (27.10 inches), it weighs 353 grams. Earlier, he was using 359 grams weighed racquets and Prokes suggested lightening it. The balance was reduced from 32.8 to 32.4 cm and the extended length gives a swing weight of 360.

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The string pattern was changed from 18×20 to 18×19 and it was one of the drastic changes. When Djokovic was using a racquet with a swing weight of 370 and his elbow issues forced him to reduce the swing weight. The head size of his racquet remains the same, 95 sq. inches.

via Imago

“I changed the racquet earlier this year,” said Djokovic. “I made some small minor changes that actually in our world are quite significant. Obviously it takes a little bit of time. I think Roger some years ago also had that racquet change, and it took him a little bit [of time], some months, to get comfortable with it. If you think about certain parts of your game you maybe want to improve, maybe the technology, the racquet can help you with that. Why not? It was a big call.”

Prokes suggestions had a massive impact on Djokovic’s career. He remarked his resurgence on the ATP Tour and collected 26 consecutive Grand Slam match wins. Prokes has previously served as the racquet-stringer for  John McEnroeJim CourierAndre AgassiAndy Roddick, and Lindsay Davenport.

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Mahalakshmi Murali

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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