In the course of October and November we had a constant dialogue about matches, scheduling, attitude, all sorts of things. I felt there was a real commitment on Novak’s part about working with me. Then I started talking with Marian Vajda, his head coach of the previous eight years who wanted to travel less. We spoke about some of the things I see in Novak’s game that I wanted to change, and we began a conversation about how to make Novak a better tennis player. I felt there was a real challenge, and I wanted to get involved. Finally it was agreed that I would join the team, but in effect I was already working with him in Paris, London and the Davis Cup final, and he didn’t lose a match for the rest of the year. In fact it went so well from the start that Novak even invited me to sit with his team at the O2 in London, but I felt that was the wrong start.

The question then was how we would announce it. We came out with the statement soon after the Davis Cup final, I joined him for a training camp in Marbella, and then I went with him to Abu Dhabi and Melbourne.

The reaction of the tennis world was largely one of shock and puzzlement, and as I’ve said, at times strayed into being insulting and disrespectful. I understand the questions about why Novak needs anyone, and whether I’m the right man, but look at the situation. For a start, he lost the No. 1 ranking to Nadal after losing a couple of big matches, and he was smart enough to recognise that his game was sliding. We can see that now, but he saw it at the time. Because of that intelligence and instinct, he wanted to get advice from somebody who could help him stop the slide and hopefully make him better, and he chose me. He’s not stupid – if it turned out that I’m not the right man, we would have parted company. But the idea that appointing me was some kind of fashion statement because Murray had hired Lendl, Federer had hired Edberg, Čilić had hired Ivanišević and so on underestimates both him and me.

I really want to emphasise that this is a team effort, and has been from the first day of my involvement. I may have the title of ‘head coach’, but I couldn’t do the job without Marian Vajda. Before every match in 2014, whether he was at the tournament or I was, we spoke at length. We spoke before every match in Melbourne and every match at Wimbledon, because I would be stupid not to use the expertise of someone who has been with Novak for some time. That also goes for his physio, his conditioning trainer and his manager, all of whom have been there for a long time. I may be the biggest cheese, but I’m still just part of the team. A few people have chosen to compare Marian and me – but that’s nonsense! I bring something to the table that Marian doesn’t have, and Marian brings something I don’t have. I think the combination is perfect.

Not that the media saw all this, which very much clouded the way they reported on our first six months working together. The Australian Open in Melbourne was perhaps the worst possible tournament to begin the coaching partnership. Novak had won the competition three times in a row, so anything less than winning a fourth consecutive title would be a let-down. And that’s what it looked like to the world. He lost to Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals, but players know when they get lucky or unlucky. Novak understood that he’d got lucky the previous year when he beat Stan 12-10 in the fifth, and this time he got unlucky and lost 9-7 in the fifth. That happens – there are days when all your big shots hit the lines, and there are days when they all just miss the lines, and it’s nothing to do with good or bad coaching. In hindsight, the trip to Australia was the best thing for us. It gave us three or four weeks to get to know each other better in the midst of the nitty-gritty and the pressure. Despite losing in the quarters, the time in Australia gave us a good start.