10 things to know about the latest addition to Novak Djokovic's coaching team
Wojtek Fibak has joined the coaching team of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. The Serb, who recently split with Dusan Vemic, will continue working with Marián Vajda, who has been working with Djokovic since 2006, but Fibak will be a new addition to the team as well. Here are 10 things to know about Mr. Wojtek Fibak:
1. Wojtek Fibak, of Poland, was born in 1952 and won a total of 15 singles titles and 52 doubles titles during his career.
2. Fibak’s career singles win-loss record was 520–310 and he peaked at no. 10 in singles in July 1977. His highest doubles ranking was No. 3, which he achieved in April 1979.
3. He reached the quarter-finals at the French Open, the US Open and Wimbledon in 1980.
4. Fibak earned more than $2.7 million in career prize money.
5. He won the Australian Open men’s doubles title in 1978 with Kim Warwick. They beat Paul Kronk and Cliff Letcher 7–6, 7–5 in the final.
6. Fibak owns the largest collection of Polish master paintings outside of Poland. He someday hopes to turn his art collection into a museum where parents can take their children to learn about art, just as his parents did with him.
7. He was romantically linked with Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell when they started out as models.
8. Fibak has a combined 28-12 (19-5 in singles and 9-7 in doubles) record in the Davis Cup and played for Poland right up to 1992 when he was 40 years old.
9. Fibak played an important role in the career of Ivan Lendl. Fibak, who coached him for five years as a pro, insisted that Lendl hit his backhand with topspin, instead of slice, and also was the mastermind behind Lendl’s intimidating game face.
“I wanted him to become a machine, to hide his feelings, to wear an unemotional mask on his face, not to react to anything,” Fibak said. And it was through Fibak that Lendl met his wife Samantha. In 1981, when Lendl emigrated to the United States, he lived for a while with Fibak.
10. Earlier this year, Fibak was accused of arranging the company of young women for rich, older men following a sting operation by an undercover reporter whose story was published by the magazine Wprost. Fibak has denied the allegations.