Djokovic's Ex-Coach Ivanisevic Under Fire After 'Attacking' His New Pupil Tsitsipas
NewsFriday, 11 July 2025 at 17:00
Goran Ivanisevic made questionable comments about his new pupil, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and that's something Patrick Mouratoglou didn't like.
Ivanisevic used to work with Novak Djokovic, so he is used to tennis excellence. However, after splitting with the 24-time Grand Slam champion, the Croatian coach struggles to find someone he could work with long-term.
He started working with Elena Rybakina a few months ago, but their coaching partnership quickly came to an end. Now, Ivanisevic started to work with Stefanos Tsitsipas, but their collaboration didn't start well.
Tsitsipas retired from his first match under Ivanisevic, and on top of that, his new coach made some questionable comments, slamming the Greek player for his current physical condition.
Many tennis fans were not happy about those comments, and it seems that they also reached others on the Tour. Patrick Mouratoglou, who mentored Tsitsipas before, was enraged by seeing those comments.
Mouratoglou published a video on his social media profiles, discussing the Croat's comments. Already in the caption, the Frenchman suggested what the video would be added, criticizing Ivanisevic for his "attack" on Tsitsipas.
"Painful to see this. When a coach attacks his player like that, especially so early in their collaboration, it hurts. Mutual trust and support should always come first."
In the video, Mouratoglou discussed the relationship between a player and a coach in detail. Trust is one of the most crucial factors in such relationships, and the Frenchman, as an experienced coach himself, thinks that Ivanisevic's comments didn't help to build that trust, quite the opposite.
"For coach to see this, for me, it's painful. Goran arrives at a bad moment, but he knows it's a bad moment. It's not a surprise if you see the results of Stef for one year, they're not even close to what he was doing before. So he knows it's a difficult moment. You accept it or you don't accept it."
"This difficult moment can create wrong behaviors. This is what you need to bring back to good behavior. In a way, it makes me feel that he [Goran] is ashamed of the results, and he wants to separate himself from Stefanos, to say, 'it's not me.'"
Ivanisevic will likely see Mouratoglou's comments, but he likely won't address them publicly. However, it will be incredibly interesting to observe how the former Wimbledon champion speaks about his pupil the next time he gets a chance to do that.
That likely won't happen anytime soon, as Tsitsipas withdrew from the upcoming Croatia Open in Umag, where he was supposed to compete. Paradoxically, it's a tournament that Ivanisevic serves as an ambassador for, and has a stadium named after him.
Some of the fans have already linked the Greek player's withdrawal to their possible split, but it would be a really surprising development, given how recently they teamed up.
At the same time, there is a chance that Ivanisevic's comments could have hurt Tsitsipas, even though he might be aware of the fact that his new coach likely wasn't lying, given his current struggles.
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