Tsitsipas' New Coach Ivanisevic Makes Brutal Admission About His Physical State

Friday, 04 July 2025 at 15:00

byErik Virostko

Stefanos Tsitsipas seems to be heading in the wrong direction, and his new coach, Goran Ivanisevic, confirmed that.

Only a few years ago, Tsitsipas seemed to be one of the most promising talents on the ATP Tour. He managed to record two wins against every member of the Big Three (Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer), reached two Grand Slam finals, won the 2019 ATP Finals, and reached the World No. 3 rank.

Now, the reality is much different for the 26-year-old Greek player. He is ranked 26th in the world and will fall even lower after this year's Wimbledon Championships.

In an attempt to stop this slide, Tsitsipas recently hired Goran Ivanisevic, who has worked with Novak Djokovic before. The Croatian coach should help Tsitsipas rediscover his old self.

However, despite becoming Tsitsipas' coach, Ivanisevic doesn't want to close his eyes and ignore the current problems. In fact, he spoke about them quite honestly.

Previously, former Tsitsipas' physio spoke about some problems in the Greek's team, and it seems that those comments might have been truthful. The Greek player has worked with his father, Apostolos, for the vast majority of his tennis career, but Ivanisevic is someone who has worked with a 24-time Grand Slam champion, and he knows what it takes to be the best.

The 2001 Wimbledon champion recently spoke to Sport Klub, and he shockingly revealed that, in his eyes, Tsitsipas is the "most unprepared player" that he has ever seen. The 53-year-old Croatian even claimed that he is currently in better shape than the World No. 26.

"It's simple and it's not easy. I've talked to him a lot of times. If he resolves some things outside of tennis, then he has a chance and will return to where he belongs, because he's too good a player to be out of the Top 10."

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"He wants to, but he doesn't do anything. All the 'I want, I want,' but I don't see any progress. I was shocked, I've never seen a more unprepared player in my life. With this knee, I'm three times more prepared than him. This is really bad."

Tsitsipas must be aware of these shortcomings. When asked about his new coach after losing at Wimbledon, he admitted that he was disappointed that he could not show his full potential to his new coach in his first match under him.

"Oh, he’s great. We’re having a great time. I am very disappointed that I wasn’t able to show my potential the way I deserve to play on the court. It’s not easy. It’s not easy."

"I feel like even if he gives me the most amount of confidence in the world, if I don’t feel comfortable, if I don’t feel good with myself and my body, then I can’t really show anything."

After the end of the grass-court season, Tsitsipas will want to prove his qualities on the hard courts. Before that, however, he will compete at the Croatia Open in Umag, which is a clay-court event.