Pepe Imaz is one of the people who most enjoyed Novak Djokovic's victory in the final of the Australian Open this Sunday. The ex-player from La Rioja has a working group with one of the champion's brothers, Marco, called Amor y Paz and he combines tennis and spirituality at the Puente Romano Club in Marbella. He has been working with the Serbian on the mental side for years and can be said to be his spiritual guide when the winner of 18 Grand Slams he spends time in the house he has in the town of Malaga. Even for a time, in 2017 and 2018, he accompanied the player on the circuit. Now he works more in the shade and intervened to explain it in the program Passing balls, of Eurosport.
“Play tennis like the angels, that's for starters, because if you have peace and tennis is not up to par, you can achieve little on the court. Novak has spent years working on his person, his interior, understanding that when one is better inside, he does everything, he does it with more harmony, better after all. He is doing his steps and his way“commented Imaz, who detailed what he does with Djokovic.” We have not worked on anything in particular and in general on everything that was being done. It is not a topic that is done in a month or two months or focus on something specific. It is more of a work base that in the end is to become aware and prioritize that before being a tennis player you are a person and a human being. When you enter that part, the other is still important but not with the same relevance. It is less difficult to go to harmony. In this difficult year that we have all lived, he has become even more aware of the importance of what is the human being, the family and relativizing things. I think that has helped“.
About the tranquility that the Balkan can give to start the course with a great triumph, Imaz thinks that it is important, but that what counts is “the inner calm”. “The calm you get through the result, but that does not depend on you, you can have it today and not tomorrow. The intrinsic calm is more solid and goes inside one, that is the one that must be nurtured “.
Mental force
Finally, the former tennis player spoke of the objectives of his ward: “Novak's desire and goal at a professional and tennis level is to achieve the maximum possible Grand Slams, he has it in his sights, and he has a lot of determination, but when there are three people with that determination it is not easy. Rafa and Novak are people with impressive mental strength. It will be nice to see what happens year after year “