Novak Djokovic's coach reveals incredible details in the build-up to Australian Open glory
Novak Djokovic's coach Goran Ivanisevic recently shared some behind-the-scenes details of the Serb's journey leading up to his historic Australian Open win.
Djokovic resumed his reign over Melbourne Park on Sunday, January 29, winning a record 10th Australian Open title and shattering Stefanos Tsitsipas' Grand Slam dream in a one-sided final. The 35-year-old swept to a 6-3, 7-6(4), 7-6(5) victory at Rod Laver Arena to reclaim the World No.1 ranking and deny Tsitsipas his maiden Major title.
With this victory, Djokovic also equalled his arch-rival Rafael Nadal's record of 22 Grand Slam titles.
In the aftermath of the final, Goran Ivanisevic told reporters that Djokovic's path to the title win was not easy. The Serb had to undergo a lot of treatment due to his hamstring injury, and all the emotions he had been holding in finally surfaced after he won.
"You know when a President visits a foreign country and they give him a list of 37,000 things to do, meeting etc. Novak had 37,000 therapies and treatments. All of those emotions came to the surface after he won. I mean, the guy spent more time in his car than in his previous 16 Australian Open tournaments combined. Incredible medical team, incredible," Ivanisevic said.
Ivanisevic went on to describe the difficulties they had to overcome in order for Djokovic's doctor, Marijana Kovacevic, to join them in Melbourne. The Croat added that if he hadn't been present to witness the endless complications, he wouldn't have believed them.
"Also, Dr. Marijana (Kovacevic) came, what we did to get her the visa and the flights, I can’t even describe. If I wasn’t present to witness all of this first hand and somebody was telling me about it, I’d most probably be like: 'Yeah, right, tell it to someone else'. That is why this is extra special, his biggest victory so far," he said.
"I still cannot believe what Novak Djokovic has been able to do" - Goran Ivanisevic
Goran Ivanisevic also stated that he was proud to have the opportunity to work with someone like Novak Djokovic because he was able to learn new things from the Serb every day.
"I still cannot believe what he has been able to do. I can only be proud of the opportunity to work with such a man, because I can always learn something new, something crazy. It’s great that we are both temperamental, emotional," Ivanisevic said.
He added that while communicating with the 35-year-old is usually easy because they speak the same language, it is not always the case.
"It helps a lot with the communication that we speak the same language, because everything needs to happen quick on the court. Still, it’s not easy, especially when he 'shoots' me with that look of his. But emotions are going through the roof, I would know," he added.