"Novak Djokovic is very demanding, something new has to happen every day" - Ex-coach Goran Ivanisevic
Novak Djokovic's ex-coach Goran Ivanisevic opened up about the 'demanding' nature of the Serb in a recent interview, admitting that there's a lot of pressure that comes with coaching the World No. 1. Regardless, he made it clear that he mostly enjoyed his time with Djokovic.
After a six year-stint that produced multiple Grand Slams and many other accolades, Djokovic and Ivanisevic ended their partnership earlier this year following the Australian Open.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion, who is yet to win a title in 2024, has hired fellow countryman Nenad Zimonjic in place of the Croat. The 36-year-old will be playing his first Grand Slam at the French Open under the new partnership, hoping to defend his title.
In an interview with Blick, Goran Ivanisevic laid bare what it was like working with the World No. 1, revealing that he expects something new to happen every day and that he was looking to improve things.
Thankfully, Ivanisevic felt that their common Slavic background helped him understand Djokovic better and made it easier to work with him, especially when it came to explaining new strategies.
While the former Wimbledon champion admitted that working with the 24-time Grand Slam champion was tough and that it was not a job for the faint-hearted, he had no reservations about acknowledging that he found immense joy in it as well.
"Well, when you train Novak Djokovic, anything other than winning the title at any tournament is a failure. That's a lot of pressure to deal with. Novak is very demanding. Something new has to happen every day, he always wants to get better. If you can't handle it, it's better not to take the job at all," Ivanisevic said.
"The language certainly helped me – we had no barrier between us. With Novak it's like this: you only have a few seconds to explain something to him. He then wants to know 15 things from you at once, but you only have three seconds to do it. So you have to try to summarize everything in some clever way. It can be hard, but I enjoyed it with Novak," he added.
"Novak Djokovic and I are similar; I was always prepared for his possible reactions" - Goran Ivanisevic
Goran Ivanisevic also said in the aforementioned interview about how he got through the sleepless nights working with Novak Djokovic, joking that he always had good sleeping tablets on hand to help with the task.
On a serious note, the Croat emphasized that he was helped by the fact that he and the 24-time Grand Slam champion were similar in terms of personality, allowing him to get a read on Djokovic's emotions beforehand.
"I always had good tablets," Ivanisevic joked. "No, seriously: you have pressure every day in this industry. But I was completely okay with it. You get used to the circumstances.
"It helped that we both came from the Balkans. Novak and I are similar. I was always prepared for his possible reactions," he added.
Novak Djokovic was last in action at the Italian Open last week, where he surprisingly lost in the third round to Alejandro Tabilo.