On Friday, the news broke – surprising many – that former Wimbledon champion and current world No 5 Elena Rybakina has found her new coach in Goran Ivanisevic. Having previously worked solely on the ATP Tour – with Tomas Berdych, Marin Cilic, Milos Raonic and for almost five years with Novak Djokovic – the Croat has decided he needed a fresh challenge, as he told Tennis Majors.
“When we spoke back in April (after the split with Djokovic), I told you that I would take a longer break, and secondly – that I won’t take a job that doesn’t make me curious or doesn’t represent a challenge,” Ivanisevic told Tennis Majors.
“After Novak, it’s really hard to coach anyone, so I needed something completely different. When you’re the coach of the greatest player of all time, you just need something new. So the choice was some young player or something completely different, and this ’completely different’ was the WTA Tour.”
Tennis Majors: How did collaboration with Elena Rybakina come around?
Goran Ivanisevic: There were some other offers (Ivanisevic had multiple offers from top players both on WTA and ATP), but I think I chose the right one for me – because of Elena’s playing style and potential, but also because of her personality. Elena is calm and I can’t wait to get going. I think it’s going to be great.
Tennis Majors: In what ways exactly do you feel Elena will suit you?
Goran Ivanisevic: I don’t know her too well personally, but my friend Zule is her fitness coach – we worked together with Tomas Berdych – and the word around the Tour generally is that she is a great person. Game-wise, she has got a big serve, tall, strong hitter who plays aggressively, she won Wimbledon just like me. I feel I can teach her something. I mean, she is already No 5 in the world, but I think she can win more Slams, that’s for sure.
I needed a U-turn after Novak.
Goran Ivanisevic
Tennis Majors: Where do you feel you can contribute the most?
Goran Ivanisevic: Firstly, we need to get to know each other better. I won’t go too much into detail, but she’s got room for improvement in every aspect of the game. She can achieve better results. It’s going to be interesting. I know that many people found it odd and that people were surprised by our collaboration, but not me – I needed a U-turn after Novak. I won everything with Novak, so I am extremely looking forward to this new challenge. Honestly, during my time on the ATP Tour, I never pictured myself on the women’s tour, but I don’t see myself in men’s tennis at the moment.
Elena Rybakina, Abu Dhabi 2024Elena Rybakina, Abu Dhabi 2024 – © Kamran Jebreili/AP/SIPA
Tennis Majors: Not exactly your area of expertise, but Rybakina has been struggling a lot with sickness, allergies, these sort of things. How do you tackle all that?
Goran Ivanisevic: I am sure there is a reason behind all that. When I dive in deeper into the whole process, then I will know more. But you know what they say: Screw the coach who can’t succeed on both Tours!
Tennis Majors: Having been on the ATP Tour for so long, how familiar are you with Elena’s competition?
Goran Ivanisevic: I always liked to watch women’s matches as well, I have been on the Tour for 13 years now. The best four or five players have been there for some time now, some younger players are coming up, but the top 10 is more or less similar for a while now. I mean – tennis is tennis, men’s or women’s, forehand, backhand, serve… At the end of the day, I think it’s the same, although everyone is telling me that the WTA Tour is completely different. I am going to see my ’old gang’ though, since most of the events are in the same cities for both Tours. Once again, I am glad to take up something new, to see how much it’s different, why it’s different… I need to experience it first-hand.
Tennis Majors: Do you have anything definite in place, in terms of the number of weeks you will spend together?
Goran Ivanisevic: Easy, just taking it easy. We will do the off-season together, then we’re going to Australia together and then we’ll see. No pressure.
If he (Djokovic) goes out on the court like that, then he can still win a Slam
Goran Ivanisevic
Tennis Majors: What about your former pupil Novak Djokovic. Do you feel that he will come motivated into 2025 and can he win more Grand Slams?
Goran Ivanisevic: I can’t know if he is motivated and how much, but the moment he decides to play, it means that he is eager to play. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are convincingly above the rest of the field, but I put Novak in the group with them, because when Novak really wants to play, he is still the best in the world, in my opinion. The other thing is how much he wants to play and when – we saw at the Olympics… If he goes out on the court like that, then he can still win a Slam. Also, it depends on his ranking and the draw, when does he need to face Sinner or Alcaraz, lots of factors, but can Novak do it? Yes, he can. You can never write him off, I would never do that. And good for me – I won’t have to root against Novak, I can stay his fan, unless he switches to women’s tennis!!
Tennis Majors: Sinner or Alcaraz?
Goran Ivanisevic: They’re different players, but when they are both at their best, I feel that Sinner is better. He is more consistent throughout the match, whether Alcaraz can go from hitting amazing shots to some easy errors. This year, Carlos had a few losses I couldn’t explain… If we move Novak out of the equation, they will dominate, they are way above anyone else on the Tour.
Tennis Majors: Who else could possibly challenge them at Slams, Alexander Zverev perhaps?
Goran Ivanisevic: Nobody. Zverev has too many ups and downs. He plays great up until some point, then comes a match where he really needs to put it together, where he needs to perform at his best – that’s when he fails, and against Alcaraz and Sinner, you need to be at your best always.
Tennis Majors: And lastly, I would like to know your take on the whole Sinner doping case?
Goran Ivanisevic: I sincerely hope they leave him alone and that they let him play, tennis needs Sinner. With (Marin) Cilic, I’ve had to deal with WADA and such people, a lot of people that I didn’t like, that just want to destroy someone’s life. I hope that the outcome is positive for Sinner.
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