John McEnroe: Novak Djokovic has lost his killer instinct and Andre Agassi’s not around enough

Djokovic’s third round defeat at Wimbledon last year was the start of a lengthy run of poor results for the then World No. 1. And, 12 months later, the 30-year-old Serb remains in the doldrums – despite a change of mentor and the increased influence of spiritual adviser Pepe Imaz.

But McEnroe says that Djokovic’s move towards a “peace and love” mentality might actually be contributing to his struggles on the court.

“From an emotional standpoint he perhaps felt he wanted to bring in somebody who wants to give people a lot of hugs,” McEnroe said in an interview with The Guardian. “That does not necessarily translate to having that killer instinct. It does not automatically lose it, but you don’t want to get into a situation where it is all peace and love and then have to go out and try to stomp on somebody’s head in competition.

“I am imagining it is a work in progress. But it is a combination of things – whatever is going on off the court. He had an injury, a let-down, and all this stuff contributes to it. I kept thinking it was going to get better.”

Djokovic won the 12th Grand Slam title of his career at last year’s French Open, but looks a long way from adding to that tally in the remaining two Grand Slams of 2017. However, McEnroe says it’s too soon to write Novak off for good:

“I think it’s safe to say that it’s tougher to stay at the top than get there. These guys have had phenomenal careers – Novak at 12 Grand Slams already. I suppose we shouldn’t be totally shocked after being the first guy in 47 years to hold all four Slams that there would be a let-down.”

Djokovic’s part-time coach, Andre Agassi, will not attend Eastbourne this week and is yet to be confirmed as part of the player’s coaching party for Wimbledon.

And McEnroe, who coached Milos Raonic last year, believes such a limited arrangement is not enough for Novak.

“I can’t see it lasting if he is only coming around for very brief moments,” McEnroe said. “But if they got a window of a month, obviously it is a totally different situation entirely.

“If I ever decided to work with Milos again and I showed up two days before Wimbledon, at that point it is really hard to make any impact. At the very least, you need what I had last year – to get a feel for his routine, and what makes him tick, and what you can add.

“There is no question Andre could add something and I would like to see that work because it would be good for the sport and a nice thing to see. It certainly looks great on paper. He did have this career renaissance so there are reasons why it makes sense.

“But it is hard to think that could make sense so fast. If you leave after the first week or you’re only here for a few days… with any person it’s going to take some time.”