It’s all in the shoes: The scientific secrets behind Novak Djokovic’s incredible court coverage

Numerous times throughout a Novak Djokovic match, he will rigorously check over his racquet. What never crosses his mind is something that’s been years in the making, the secret to his success.

Numerous times during a match Novak Djokovic’s mind will wander to his racquet and start going through a checklist.

Is the tension right in the strings? Am I happy with this grip? Should I get a new one out for this next set?

But what he doesn’t want his mind to be thinking about, not even once, is the second most important tool for a player … their shoes.

How they get around the court to then use the racquet is something which in Djokovic’s case involves two years of planning.

It’s all in the shoes for Novak Djokovic. Picture: Michael Klein

That’s how long ASICS scientists spend formulating his signature Court FF shoe. All the way through player feedback is crucial because no-one is the same with their particular playing style a key factor in determining which shoe works for them.

What they all agree on is the aim is to not have the shoes entering their mind at any time.

“When the shoe is not comfortable, it could be annoying,” ASICS tennis product manager Juhi Tanigaki explains. “It could be a distraction and at the most important points those are the voices that you hear in your head.

“We want to make this shoe comfortable in order to just eliminate those distractions so people can focus on their performance, this helps reduce their physical distraction or physical damage and helps them mentally as well.”

It is the job of ASICS senior product and innovation manager Rene Zandbergen to deal exclusively with Djokovic which usually involves trying to convince him to embrace some new improved technology shoe.

Djokovic’s court coverage has been a trademark of his legendary career. Picture: Mark Stewart

“The one thing particularly with tennis players, if the shoe is good they don’t want to change it and Novak is a bit like this,” Zandbergen says. “But it’s not that difficult to persuade them.

“If they are at the high level they want to have the best so if you tell them or put the seed in their head about what if there is a tennis shoe which is better, it clicks.

“When we created his current shoe I met with him in Serbia with lots of prototypes, from stable to very flexible. He wanted to have as flexible as possible.

“We design a baseline playing style which is for players at the back of the court who move side to side most of the time and they’re after stability.

“Alex de Minaur has what we call an all-court playing style, he goes to the net more often, is very fast on the court, running a bit more so we have shoes that basically deliver speed and Alex wears the Solution Speed FF.

“Novak has the Court FF which is the mix of both as he is able to switch between playing styles.”

The number of shoes each player goes through in a tournament varies, some may have a new pair each match.

“It depends on the player and depends on the tournament surface a bit,” Zandbergen says. “On a hard court the shoe wears out faster but some players when they are on a winning streak they like to keep the shoe for a long time until they lose.

“Some players are more sensitive to these things, the minute they feel they may be losing a bit of grip, it’s time for a new shoe, that’s how they work.”

He says a confident player with his footwear means a confident player in a match.

“It’s like with the racquet, if the grip is loose it will annoy you as hell and you will not play a good game,” Zandbergen said.

“The same thing is if you don't need to think about your footwear and you are very confident with your footwear you’re also able to take more risks. At that level taking risks is making the difference right.

“If you are by any way distracted by anything inside your shoe whether it be irritation, the laces almost breaking, it can be anything, you will not take that risk and if you don’t take that risk you will probably lose two or three points more.

“That is basically how it works especially at the elite level.”

Originally published as It’s all in the shoes: The scientific secrets behind Novak Djokovic’s incredible court coverage