Novak Djokovic has revealed that he has split from coach Goran Ivanisevic.
The partnership was hugely successful, with Djokovic enjoying the most dominant period of his career through his early and mid-30s.
Ivanisevic became the Serbian’s main coach in March 2022, having previously worked alongside Djokovic’s long-time mentor Marian Vajda for several years.
The world number one said he and Ivanisevic parted ways “a few days ago”, writing on Instagram: “I remember clearly the moment I invited Goran to be part of my team. It was back in 2018, and Marian and I were looking to innovate and bring some serve magic to our duo.
“In fact, not only we brought serve, but also lots of laughter, fun, year end no1 rankings, record breaking achievements and 12 more Grand Slams (and a few finals) to the count since then. Did I mention a bit of drama too?
“Goran and I decided to stop working together a few days ago. Our on-court chemistry had its ups and downs, but our friendship was always rock solid.
“In fact, I am proud to say (not sure he is) that apart from winning tournaments together, we also had a side battle in (the board game) Parchisi going on… for many years. And – that tournament never stops for us. Thanks for everything my friend. Love you.”
Djokovic had one of his best seasons in 2023, winning three grand slam titles and losing an epic Wimbledon final to Carlos Alcaraz, but this news comes at an uncertain time for the 36-year-old, who also recently split from his long-time agents.
He lost his first match at the Australian Open since 2018 to Jannik Sinner and then suffered a shock defeat against Italian Luca Nardi at Indian Wells earlier this month before deciding not to play at the Miami Open.
Ivanisevic never shied away from the challenges of working with Djokovic, saying after the French Open final last year: “He’s not an easy guy, let’s put it this way. Especially when something’s not going his way.
“He keeps you stressed, the stress level is always high. It never goes down. But every day you learn something.”
Djokovic will aim to rediscover his form on the European clay, with the Serbian only one grand slam title away from passing Margaret Court’s tally of 24 to become the most successful singles player in history.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here