World No. 1 player Novak Djokovic has had plenty of coaches throughout his career. While the news about his split with long-time coach Goran Ivanisevic is still being talked about, interesting anecdotes about some of his previous coaches are also coming out. One such anecdote is that Novak Djokovic’s former coach and tennis legend Andre Agassi did not take a single penny to perform his coaching duties.
Andre Agassi coached Novak Djokovic from 2017-2018. He took over the responsibility after one of his former rivals Boris Becker ended his term as Djokovic’s coach. Agassi was more than happy to coach Djokovic as a mentor without charging any fees. For him, it was more important to maintain and extend the relationship he prizes with Djokovic.
Andre Agassi is a celebrated legend in tennis, who has earned his fair share of the sport. Despite coming from a humble background himself, Agassi managed to make it big in the sport.
Therefore, it is presumable that taking up coaching duties isn’t really a compulsion for him, financially speaking. However, if he does as he did with Djokovic in 2017, it is merely out of love for the game and the sportsman himself. A Eurosport article from 2017 reported the same about Agassi.
“For me, I do this on my own time and my own dime. I don’t want money, I want to help him. And it helps the game. Him at his best is good for the game and it’s a way I can contribute,” said Andre Agassi to Eurosport.
Although Djokovic was a world champion and a legend in the sport by then, his small stint with Agassi still helped him a lot. It started with the 2017 French Open, which, although didn’t go Djokovic’s way, the Serb did win the next tournament at Eastbourne International. This was the first tournament Djokovic won with Agassi and without his longtime coach, Marian Vajda.
Agassi served more as a mentor, helping Djokovic focus on the right areas and giving him the proper guidance he needed.
Agassi continued via Eurosport, “There’s a difference between what I want and now in the French Open, so I don’t want him thinking too much so that he stops doing what comes naturally to him. For me, it’s simple. His game is about controlling the baseline and it’s built on executing to big targets. He’s not a guy who plays to lines, he’s a guy who throws body blow after body blow after body blow, and he’s just never though a lot about the other side of the court. So I think there are ways he can take his game, at 30 years old, and older – because hopefully he will want to play for a while – and he will start making it easier for himself by knowing what he should do with the guy across the net.”
This is basically what Agassi said when asked how he would help Djokovic improve his game. He had a set plan in mind for the Serb.
Andre Agassi net worth and the earnings of Djokovic’s most recent coach
Andre Agassi has a net worth of above $175 million. This includes earnings from his businesses, his endorsements and advertisements, and of course his prize money earnings from tennis over the years. Andre Agassi minted $31,152,975 in prize money from his tennis career.
Goran Ivanisevic, on the other hand, who worked with Djokovic since 2019 made a weekly income of $6500 to $11,000 approximately (6000 Euros to 10,000 Euros). Upon extrapolation, these figures amount to $326,073 to $543,455 annually. The duo won 9 Grand Slams in 15 appearances together in the last 5 years. They also reached two other finals.
