Goran Ivanisevic is one of tennis’ most decorated coaches of all time, having spent the bulk of his career post-retirement alongside Novak Djokovic.
So, when he eventually split with the Serbian and looked for new pastures, it was thought that whoever secured his services would be guaranteed to enjoy some form of success.
Alas, Stefanos Tsitsipas did not, and instead seemingly struggled to adapt to the no-nonsense approach taken by the Croatian.
This culminated in a rather high-profile interview from Ivanisevic, where he blasted his player, claiming: “I have never seen a more unfit player.”
Well, at long last this legendary coach has broken his silence, making a prediction about Stefanos Tsitsipas’ future after those bold claims.
Goran Ivanisevic breaks silence after Stefanos Tsitsipas comments
Speaking on the First and Red YouTube channel, attention was inevitably going to turn to the Tsitsipas controversy.
After all, it has been one of the most intriguing stories of the year thus far, coinciding with the 27-year-old’s struggles and steady decline.
Justifying his words, he admitted: “I think the press made it more harsh than it is. I don’t think I said something spectacularly bad.
“I didn’t say that he is a bad player. I didn’t say he’s ugly. I didn’t say that he cannot play tennis. I didn’t say he will never win the tournament again.
“I said that he’s an unbelievable player. I said he will be top 10. He played three years ago, he played the final of a Grand Slam. I just said that a player who is unfit mentally and physically, like he is at the moment, you don’t play tennis then.”
He continued, before then issuing a prediction about Tsitsipas: “It’s better to be fair to yourself and everybody else, and just don’t play, because you cannot come on the court physically, mentally, unfit, and thinking you’re gonna win the matches, you need to practice. And then you need to win the matches. And especially in Wimbledon, that is not easy, and he has a problem with the back. He needs to solve that problem. And changing the racket three days before the Halle tournament, trying the new racket.
“This, I mean, so many things, like I said, that he’s unfit. The faster he goes, he will go back to where he belongs. Top 10, even better, because he’s too good a player to be at that position that he is now.”
How did the tennis world react to Goran Ivanisevic’s comments about Stefanos Tsitsipas?
Naturally, Ivanisevic’s scathing assessment of Tsitsipas was a very polarising moment.
For some, it was a valid criticism that needed to be levelled at a player desperately in need of a fresh perspective and a different coaching technique.
However, others argued that a coach should never speak about a player so publicly, and thus, it drew great criticism.
Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images
Nick Kyrgios reacted to Ivanisevic’s comments about Tsitsipas, branding it ‘brutal’, whilst Patrick Mouratoglou also criticised the claim.
Jim Courier was so stunned he even thought it was a joke, suggesting: “Maybe I’m completely wrong. Maybe he said what he meant there, but it just doesn’t seem. I know Goran forever. But this just is out of character for him. He’s more savvy than this.”