Goran Ivanisevic identifies moment when he began to ‘feel that the end was near’ for Novak Djokovic partnership
Novak Djokovic’s former coach Goran Ivanisevic has revealed when he first realised that his coaching partnership with the Serbian was coming to an end.
Over the course of the past six years Djokovic and Ivanisevic formed one of the greatest player-coaching partnerships in tennis history, with unprecedented success.
Since 2018 Djokovic has doubled his Grand Slam tally from 12 majors to 24, moving ahead of both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in terms of total number of slams, and becoming the first player – man or woman – to spend 400 weeks at No 1 in the singles rankings.
But the 36-year-old has been far from his best this year, with a surprise loss to Luca Nardi and Indian Wells compounding his battle to find form in 2024.
It was after that loss that Djokovic announced a shock split from Ivanisevic, himself a former Wimbledon champion and world No 2 during his playing career.
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Many initially thought that it was his underwhelming start to 2024 that led to the two going their separate ways, but in an interview with Serbian tennis journalist Sasa Ozmo, Ivanisevic revealed that doubts first began to circle for him months before Indian Wells.
And in particular he pointed to the aftermath of Djokovic’s heartbreaking Wimbledon final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz, suggesting that things were not the same after that despite winning the Cincinnati Masters and the US Open later that summer.
“It wasn’t now in America, I mean, it never really “occurred”. I first noticed the feeling, if I’m being completely honest, last year in America,” said Ivanisevic on Tennis Majors.
“I won’t say as far back as Wimbledon, but that Wimbledon, of course the player is always most affected, but as a coach that loss really hit hard. Of course, all congratulations to (Carlos) Alcaraz, at the end of the day he was the better player, but one or two points here and there it could have easily turned out different.
“We then went to America, and it goes without saying, [we had] an incredible run there – that finals match against Alcaraz in Cincinnati, winning the US Open; however, that’s when I really began to feel that the end was near.”
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After consecutive titles at Cincinnati and Flushing Meadows, Djokovic also ended the year in strong fashion, with a Masters 1000 victory in Paris and a record seventh triumph at the ATP Finals.
And Ivanisevic conceded that their partnership could have ended even before those victories, though his off-court absence meant no decision was made until this year.
He added: “It was only a question of whether that would be at the end of the year, or at some point in this year, and just now in America when I spoke to Novak he said something good – there is no right or wrong moment, there is only that moment when it happens, when two people agree it is time.
“Maybe in hindsight you could say it should have been at the end of last year but after the US Open, I had that operation on my knee, I wasn’t there for six to seven weeks, I wasn’t there for Paris Bercy, Turin came after that.”
