End of an era of success: Novak Djokovic broke up with his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, after winning 12 Grand Slam titles

The Serbian Novak Djokovicnumber one in the ATP ranking, announced on Wednesday the end of his working relationship with the Croatian Goran Ivanisevicwho has been part of his work team since 2018 and his coach since 2022. In these six years of shared work, the tennis player has won, among others, 12 of his 24 Grand Slam titles.

“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 pitch has had its ups and downs, but our friendship has always been solid,” said the 36-year-old, who has had a truly inauspicious start to the 2024 season.

Nole He had added Ivanisevic, the 2001 Wimbledon champion, to his technical team in 2018, when he was coached by the Slovenian Marian Vajda, his historic coach and with whom he worked until March 2022. “I clearly remember the moment when I invited Goran to be part of the my group,” Djokovic recalled. “Marian and I were trying to innovate and bring some service magic to our duo,” he explained.

The multiple champion underlined that Ivanisevic not only made a substantial contribution to his serve, “but also lots of laughter, fun, number one at the end of the year, records broken and 12 more Grand Slam tournaments, as well as several final exams for the accountant.” “Boss, thank you for everything, my friend. I love you,” number one said goodbye.

Together 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 rankings world number one (8) and with more weeks as world number one (418). They also shared very difficult moments, such as when the Serbian was expelled from Australia in January 2022 because he had not been vaccinated against covid-19.

The Belgrade-born player has given no hint as to who his coach will be in the future. For now, the Serbian newspaper Sportklub reported that on Tuesday he had trained in his hometown with compatriot Nenad Zimonjić, the former number one in the doubles rankings. The newspaper announced that Zimonjić could accompany Djokovic in some tournaments, although it believes it is “unrealistic” that he will be his long-term coach.

Nole He did not have a positive start to 2024, in which he only played three races. 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 in the quarterfinals against the Australian Alex de Miñaur (12th ). END. At the Australian Open he was beaten in the semifinals by the Italian Jannik Sinner (4th). His last disappointing performance was at the Indian Wells Masters 1000: he was eliminated in the third round by Italian Luca Nardi (123rd).

After that defeat against the young Nardi, just twenty years old, he was very dissatisfied with his performance. “My level was very, very low. I helped him play well and I didn’t help myself. I made some terrible unforced errors. I played pretty defensive tennis and didn’t hit the ball much in the third set,” he said.

That day, the Balkan player also highlighted the fact that he hadn’t won a single title in recent weeks as a negative aspect of his start to the season. “It’s not something common. But it’s part of 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 had in these last three or four tournaments,” he said.

Four days after the Indian Wells elimination, the world number one announced that he would not participate in the Miami Masters 1000. “At this point in my career, I have to balance my personal and professional calendar,” he explained in a published message on his Twitter account. Eleven days later he announced his separation from Ivanisevic.

Djokovic had started the season with the idea of ​​winning the four Grand Slam competitions, an objective that narrowly eluded him in 2023: he was champion in Australia, Roland Garros and the US Open, but lost the Wimbledon final against Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. Besides that, he still has two important results 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. Djokovic will surpass that figure on April 7, the very day the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 begins, the next tournament in which he is expected to participate. The other big goal in 2024 is to get the gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games, the only major tournament still to be won.