Goran Ivanisevic has insisted there are no hard feelings between him and Stefanos Tsitsias following the ending of their brief coaching partnership.
The Croat was appointed to work with Tsitsipas less than two months ago. Ivanisevic is a former Wimbledon champion who has also previously worked with Novak Djokovic, who won 12 out of his 24 Grand Slam titles whilst he was in his team. He has also worked with Tomas Berdych, Milos Raonic and Elena Rybakina.
Speaking to HRT, 53-year-old Ivanisevic said he believes the best person to coach Tsitsipas on the Tour is his father and former mentor Apostolos. Even though they parted ways last year following a heated argument that took place during the Canadian Masters when Tsitsipas asked his father to leave midway through his match against Kei Nishikori. The former world No.3 later told The Athletic that he needed to ‘take decisions based on my own gut feeling’ after their split.
Nevertheless, less than a year after their falling out, Apostolos is back in charge of his son’s development on the Tour.
“We spoke yesterday, no hard feelings, we thanked each other. He decided to try again with his father, and honestly, I truly believe this – the only person who can coach him is his dad,” said Ivanisevic.
“He played his best tennis with him, his dad knows him best, this is a family project. It’s the best decision, I wish him all the best, he’s too good of a player to be where he is. And yesterday I told him again that nothing will change unless he sorts some things out in his head”.
Ivanisevic has been blunt in his assessment of the Greek’s form during recent interviews, describing it as a ‘disaster.’ However, he believes the reaction it generated was blown out of proportion.
“I didn’t insult him… I told him all of that, it’s not like I was saying it behind his back. Now it seems like you can’t say anything anymore,” he explained.
“I said it honestly, to get a reaction. That’s how this generation is. Unfortunately, that’s how it is, everyone sees it. He feels it too, and he knows. If you’re not mentally, physically, and emotionally ready. Especially mentally, to play for hours with the best, then you have no chance of playing tennis. He wasn’t mentally ready to play at Wimbledon, I hope he’ll find his path. I wish him all the best, we know the results he’s had, he hasn’t forgotten how to play tennis”.
The decision to make a comment to get a reaction from Tsitsipas is a method that another former player, Marcos Baghdatis, has previously endorsed. During an interview with Ubitennis earlier this month, Baghdatis said it was important to issue a wake-up call to Tsitsipas to get him back on track.
“The most important thing is to find a way to shock Stefanos, to get him back to where we all want to see him, especially me as a Cypriot Greek,” he said.
Tsitsipas is currently ranked 29th in the world and has failed to win back-to-back matches at his last five tournaments played.
