Novak Djokovic’s former hitting partner Connor Garnett defeats Jack Sock at PPA The Masters in Palm Springs

In case you missed it in the midst of a busy awards season, Marian Vajda won the 2018 Coach of the Year award. The Slovakian reunited with Novak Djokovic in the spring and helped guide him back to No. 1.

Along the way, Djokovic picked up titles at Wimbledon, Cincinnati, the US Open and Shanghai. The 31-year-old was 6-6 and outside of the Top 20 before rejoining forces with Vajda and his fitness coach Gebhard Gritsch following a year-long break.

“I would like to really dedicate this to all of our team,” Vajda told the ATP. “I’m really glad that after coming back, he reached No. 1 in the world,”

Fellow ATP coach member voted for the award. The other nominees were Jan de Witt (coach of Nikoloz Basilashvili), Carlos Moya (coach of Rafael Nadal), Sebastian Prieto (coach of Juan Martin del Potro) and Simone Vagnozzi (coach of Marco Cecchinato).

In 2019, the ATP, WTA—and so much more—are on Tennis Channel Plus:

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