While the strain goes mainly on the player, it can also be felt by their team in the case of Novak Djokovic’s physio, Miljan Amanovic who started working with the World No.1 back in 2007, but he has since taken a step back working part time at his tennis centre in Serbia and traveling with him on a part-time basis.
But in a new book titled Novak Djokovic: The Greatest of All Time profiling the 24-time Major champion’s rise to the top of tennis, it revealed that he suffered a heart attack which means he can no longer travel full-time.
“In 2017, when Novak made wholesale changes to his support team, Amanovic stopped working with him. That same year, the physio suffered a heart attack, brought on, he said, by the stress of travelling full-time on the ATP Tour,” the book states.
the Croatian physio later said: “I survived a severe heart attack. I was resuscitated four times. Now I can say that it was God’s will in the true sense of the word, because if only one link in the chain of events had not been in place that day, I would probably have left this earthly life. They say that they fought for me for 40 minutes.”
He initially got rid of Amanovic alongside Marian Vajda but Djokovic in rehiring Amanovic back in 2022 was full of praise for him which has continued. “Miljan has travelled a lot, he has got three kids. Also, we have big plans here in the Novak Tennis Centre, we intend to transform it to an Academy, and Miljan is one of the key people there. I am delighted that he has accepted that role, he will mean the world to us.”
“Miljan is one of the closest people in my life. He has been working a lot these days, always gives his best. I am very grateful to Miljan, it would be a lot harder without him.”
