Djokovic planning to renew coaching ties with Woodforde

MELBOURNE: Newly crowned Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic is considering renewing his coaching association with legendary Australian doubles player Mark Woodforde.

The breakthrough weekend win for the 20-year-old Djokovic has apparently forced the Serb into thinking about upgrading his game even further. That would include some more volleying skills possibly to be imparted by California-based Woodforde.

"It's still open with Mark (Woodforde). We haven't actually talked about working this season, but everything is possible - maybe in Indian Wells because he lives there," Djokovic said.

A year ago, the then 13th-ranked Djokovic and coach Marian Vadja took Woodforde's assistance to improve the player's net play.

The part-time collaboration with Woodforde, who lives just a lob away from the site of the Indian Wells Masters, resulted in a final in California for Djokovic against Rafael Nadal and a Miami title two weeks later.

Djokovic called the return of Woodforde "one of the options". "For now, I'm feeling pretty happy with the team and the surroundings which I have," he said.
 
The Serb admitted: "I still need to improve my net game. I'm intending to go more to the net to use my opportunities because I have great groundstrokes. I'm really looking to work on this element of the game."
 
Woodforde also assisted Djokovic for the summer grass court season, with the world no.3 making it to the semi-finals at last year's Wimbledon.