It's not a one-and-done situation like the Maria Sharapova-Jimmy Connors failed merger, but a gambling website already is taking bets on whether this union will soon fall apart as well.
Novak Djokovic's stunning five-set loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Tuesday immediately turned the media's attention to Djokovic's new coach, Boris Becker.
Djokovic, the No. 2 player in the world, was the three-time reigning Australian Open champion coming into this year's tournament. He was riding a 25-match winning streak in Melbourne as well as a 28-match winning streak since losing the 2013 U.S. Open final.
But his jittery play at the end of the five-set match sent critics looking for a scapegoat in Becker.
"Was it the German's influence, for example, that on match point down led to Djokovic abandoning his usual dogged method of dealing with a crisis to serve-and-volley - a tactic that backfired horrendously when a routine forehand volley went wide?" gmanetwork.com asked.
Djokovic deflected criticism away from his coach after the match.
"It's been the first official tournament for us," said Djokovic, as reported by the Daily Mirror. "I'm satisfied with things we've been talking about, working on. Of course, it's unfortunate we finished the tournament in the quarterfinals.
"But it's the beginning of the season and we will see what happens next. Stan took his opportunities - he deserved to win today."
Wawrinka broke a 14-match losing streak to the Serb.
Of course, critics of the Becker-Djokovic pairing are quick to point to the streak and forget that Wawrinka took Djokovic to five sets last year, losing 12-10 in the fifth. He lost another five-set match to Djokovic in last year's U.S. Open after defeating Andy Murray earlier in the tournament.
According to the Mirror, Ladsbroke, a gambling website, quoted odds at 2-1 that Becker and Djokovic would no longer be working together by the time the 2014 French Open rolls around in May.
That gives Becker some time to keep from becoming the men's tennis version of Connors, whom Sharapova kicked to the curb as her coach after just one match, a loss to Sloane Stephens last August.
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