The Serbian Novak Djokovicnumber one in the ATP ranking, announced this Wednesday the end of his employment relationship with the Croatian Goran Ivanisevicwho was part of his work team since 2018 and his head coach since 2022. In these six years of shared work, the tennis player won 12 of his 24 Grand Slam titles, among other achievements.
“Goran and I decided to stop working together a few days ago,” Djokovic said in a message posted on his Instagram account. “Our chemistry on the court has had ups and downs, but our friendship was always rock solid,” said the 36-year-old, who has had a very inauspicious start to the 2024 season.
Absent He had added Ivanisevic, Wimbledon champion in 2001, to his technical team in 2018, when he was trained by the Slovenian Marian Vajda, his historical coach and with whom he worked until March 2022. “I clearly remember the moment in which I invited Goran to be part of my group,” Djokovic recalled. “Marian and I were looking to innovate and bring a little magic on the serve to our duo,” he explained.
The multi-time champion highlighted that Ivanisevic had not only made a substantial contribution to his service, “but also a lot of laughter, enjoyment, number one at the end of the year, records broken and another 12 Grand Slams, in addition to several finals for the accountant.” “Boss, thank you for everything, my friend. I love you,” number one said goodbye.
Along with Ivanisevic, Djokovic became the player with the most Grand Slam titles in the men’s branch (24), with the most titles in Masters 1000 competitions (40), with the most seasons completed at the top of the world ranking (8) and with more weeks as number one in the world (418). They also shared very difficult moments, like when the Serbian was expelled from Australia in January 2022 for not being vaccinated against covid-19.
The Belgrade-born player did not give any clues as to who his coach will be in the future. For now, the Serbian newspaper Sportklub reported that on Tuesday he had been training in his hometown with his compatriot Nenad Zimonjić, former number one in the doubles rankings. The newspaper announced that Zimonjić could accompany Djokovic in some tournaments, although he considered it “unrealistic” that she would be his coach in the long term.
Absent He has not had a positive start to 2024, in which he only competed in three competitions. Representing Serbia, he participated in the United Cup, in which he beat the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang (58th in the ranking) and the Czech Jiri Lehecka (31st), but fell to the Australian Alex de Miñaur (12th) in the quarterfinals. of final. At the Australian Open, he was beaten in the semi-finals by the Italian Jannik Sinner (4th). His last disappointing intervention was at the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells: he was eliminated in the third round by the Italian Luca Nardi (123rd).
After that defeat against the young Nardi, barely 20 years old, he was very dissatisfied with his performance. “My level was very, very bad. I helped him play well and I didn’t help myself. I made some terrible unforced errors. I played quite defensive tennis and I didn’t hit the ball much in the third set,” he said.
That day, the Balkan also pointed out not having even won a title in recent weeks as a negative aspect of his start to the season. “That is not something common. But it’s part of the sport, I have to accept it. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I hope to win more and move forward to break this negative cycle that I have been having in these last three or four tournaments,” he noted.
Four days after the elimination in Indian Wells, the world number one announced that he would not participate in the Miami Masters 1000. “At this point in my career, I must balance my personal and professional calendar,” he justified in a message posted on his Twitter account. Eleven days later, he announced his separation from Ivanisevic.
Novak Djokovic and Goran Ivanisevic, a duo that got tired of celebrating successes. Photo: Lisi Niesner / Reuters.Djokovic had started the season with the idea of winning the four Grand Slam competitions, a goal that narrowly escaped him in 2023: he was champion in Australia, Roland Garros and the US Open, but lost the Wimbledon final to the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. Beyond that, he still has two important achievements to achieve in 2024.
One is just around the corner: becoming the oldest world number one in history. That mark is held by the Swiss Roger Federer, at 36 years and 320 days old. Djokovic will surpass that figure on April 7, just the day the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 will begin, the next tournament in which he is scheduled to participate. The other great objective in 2024 is to obtain the gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games, the only major tournament that has yet to be won.
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