Running spikes, questions and attention to detail; how Djokovic worked to find the perfect shoes

The former world No 1 was “almost obsessive” in his quest to help Asics build him the ideal shoe

Novak Djokovic, Asics, 2025 © Tennis Majors

January 13, 2025

When you are trying to become the best player in history, your chances of success are likely to be greater if you leave no stone unturned. Perfection is impossible but if you pay attention to every detail, always look to improve and work as hard as you can, then you can get pretty close.

Novak Djokovic may already have done enough to be regarded as the greatest player of all time – his tally of 24 Grand Slams is more than any other man and has him level with Margaret Court at the top of the all-time list – but he continues to work with dedication and attention to detail that’s second to none.

Andy Murray explained it well in discussion with British reporters this week when discussing his new, surprising role as the Serbian’s coach. “It’s obviously been fascinating and interesting,” he said. “There’s been some things that have been surprising, but I expected him to be an extremely hard worker, very intense and always keen to learn, questioning lots of things, and wanting to get better.”

Djokovic’s latest shoe three years in development

That attention to detail stretches throughout his game, from his practice routines, training programme and diet to the extra weight he adds to his racquet.

It also covers, of course, the shoes he wears and on the eve of the Australian Open, he revealed the time and detail that both he and the experts at Asics put in to ensure he has the perfect shoes for his game-style.

“I’m biased, because obviously I wear the Asics shoe for quite a few years already, but for me, it’s the best tennis shoe, definitely, that I’ve ever played in,” he said at the Asics Tennis Summit in Melbourne, where he revealed that it took almost three years to get to the point where he was happy that he had the perfect shoe.

“The two most important items that the tennis player has is a tennis racquet and a shoe. You can’t mess around with those two,” he said. “Also, I think there is a great kind of approach and philosophy at Asics to innovate and to always try to be better, even if it’s a small percentage in relation to what it was the year years before.

“That’s something I respect because I resonate with that kind of mentality. I feel like I’m nurturing the similar kind of mindset. And I think it’s important to progress in life and to always invest energy and effort into being better because everyone else is doing so you are either going to progress or regress. There is no such thing as stagnation, right?

“So even though I feel like I’ve reached the perfect shoe for my foot, I’m always happy always to exchange ideas and thoughts on what we can do better, how I can actually move better on certain surfaces?”

Shoes have to withstand Djokovic’s love of sliding

Djokovic’s outstanding movement has been a huge part of his success, the way he slides into the ball kick-starting a generation of players who do the same. That puts enormous stress on the foot and the shoe.

“Since a very young age, I’ve been sliding a lot on all surfaces, even though it’s not by the books, particularly on grass, you should not slide as much, but I guess I’ve maintained that kind of movement,” he said. “It has helped me so much throughout my life and so those are the elements which you have to take in consideration when you think about the shoe.”

All of Asics’ players use custom-made shoes depending on their playing-style; Djokovic uses the “baseline” version, designed to help players who move side to side a lot and generally play from the baseline. Alex de Minaur uses a lightweight speed shoe and others use an all-round shoe, a combination of the two.

“He’s asking for details. That’s really fun to work with”

Rene Zandbergen, the Senior Product Manager at Asics, said Djokovic was more involved in his shoe design than any other player.

“Novak is a really good example,” the Dutchman said. “Because of because of his experience and playing in such a high level, he is somebody who looks at basically every detail. And if he doesn’t, he wants to know about the details, right? So he’s asking for details. That is really fun to work with.”

Zandbergen said the first time he met Djokovic, the Serbian asked about the lines in the outsole, even though he didn’t know anything about them. Over the next few months, the Asics team shared with him their initial blueprint in the concept stage, taking feedback from Djokovic, then moved into design, with Djokovic then being handed the first sample to test out.

“With him, for instance, I think we had eight different prototypes going because with his shoe, we were focusing especially on flexibility and stability,” Zandbergen said. “And then we took it from there by basically testing with him and then defining which one was the best direction, and he wanted to go as flexible as possible.”

That, Zandbergen said, was not necessarily the smartest thing to do because though it would be comfortable, he would lose energy through the shoe. “It’s almost like running on sand,” he said. “You lose the energy going into sand. If you go on asphalt, you get energy return. After these kind of discussions you have with him…we go to prototypes. And it’s similar process. He tests, it gives feedback, and then we move on and move on. Basically you’re narrowing down to the final product.

Djokovic wanted to look at running spikes

The process is not without its dodgy moments, for the designers, at least. “He was using the shoe and during practice, I remember still very well, that at some point he fell down. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, let me leave. Please, let me disappear’. He stood up and he sat down for a little while, took the shoe again, but then played on and then the end of the practice…he came to me and he said the shoe was fantastic (but) maybe could you look at the laces, it was a small thing. That’s the level of being involved.”

Always looking for an edge, Djokovic wanted to examine running spikes, too, to see if there was anything there that could be used to help.

““I think maybe that’s also the reason why he’s the No 1, right?” Zandbergen said. “He’s probably looking at everything. He has a specific food, specific way of living. His racquet is really heavily. That’s probably the difference. Almost like an obsession.”