{"id":247673,"date":"2025-10-24T03:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T03:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/247673\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T03:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T03:55:09","slug":"what-goran-ivanisevic-once-said-about-players-skipping-the-davis-cup-as-jannik-sinner-misses-italys-title-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/247673\/","title":{"rendered":"What Goran Ivanisevic once said about players skipping the Davis Cup as Jannik Sinner misses Italy’s title defence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Jannik Sinner won\u2019t play at the Davis Cup Finals this November.<\/p>\n

After helping his team win the tournament in 2023 and 2024, Sinner withdrew ahead of the 2025 Davis Cup Finals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His decision has been criticized in Italy, with tennis legend Nicola Pietrangeli calling Sinner\u2019s move a \u2018slap in the face\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NicolaPhoto by Mike Hewitt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In Sinner\u2019s defence, he isn\u2019t the first player to have missed the Davis Cup<\/a>, as the likes of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic all skipped the event at various points throughout their careers.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, some players respected the event above any other, including Goran Ivanisevic<\/a>, who had this to say in 2021.<\/p>\n

Goran Ivanisevic \u2018just wanted to play Davis Cup\u2019 and didn\u2019t care about getting injured<\/p>\n

During a press conference at the 2021 Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Ivanisevic shared his thoughts on players representing their countries.<\/p>\n

\"GoranPhoto by Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, playing for my country, actually, I remember the 1992 Olympic Games<\/a> in Barcelona, carrying the flag for the first time. That was the biggest honor one sportsman can get,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning two medals there.\u201d<\/p>\n

1992 Olympics Singles \u2013 Bronze medal1992 Olympics Doubles \u2013 Bronze medal<\/p>\n

The Croat proceeded to reflect on his time representing his country at the Davis Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways playing Davis Cup, even when I got injured every time I played Davis Cup. I didn\u2019t care. I just wanted to play Davis Cup,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a special thing. Some people don\u2019t like to play for their countries. But I was the one who really enjoyed playing for the country, being with the guys, making it better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ivanisevic\u2019s Davis Cup journey was special, and culminated with a retirement U-turn that paid off in spades.<\/p>\n

Goran Ivanisevic came out of retirement to win the 2005 Davis Cup<\/p>\n

The 2001 Wimbledon<\/a> champion made his Davis Cup debut in 1988, representing Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n

Ivanisevic quickly became an integral member of the team, helping his country establish itself as one of the best sides in the competition.<\/p>\n

YearYugoslavia\u2019s performanceGoran Ivanisevic\u2019s record1988Lost 5-0 to Germany in SF0-11989Lost 4-1 to Sweden in SF5-31990Lost 3-2 to New Zealand in 1R4-01991Lost 5-0 to France in SF6-0Goran Ivanisevic\u2019s Davis Cup record for Yugoslavia<\/p>\n

When Croatia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, Ivanisevic began representing the newly formed nation.<\/p>\n

Despite his best efforts, he was still unable to lift the title, as the Croats dipped in and out of the World Group.<\/p>\n

YearCroatia\u2019s performanceGoran Ivanisevic\u2019s record1993Lost 3-2 to Denmark in Playoff4-21994Won 4-0 against Portugal to qualify for World Group5-11995Lost 4-1 to Germany in 1R2-41996Lost 4-1 to Australia in Playoff2-21997Lost 3-2 to Austria in Europe\/Africa Zone5-12000Won 5-0 against Ivory Coast to qualify for Playoffs6-02001Beat Italy 3-2 to qualify for World Group4-12002Lost 3-2 to Argentina in QF4-02003Lost 4-1 to USA in 1R1-0Goran Ivanisevic\u2019s Davis Cup record for Croatia<\/p>\n

Retiring from tennis in 2004, it looked like Ivanisevic\u2019s Davis Cup dream was over.<\/p>\n

Team Croatia had other ideas, as the nation advanced to its maiden Davis Cup final in 2005.<\/p>\n

2005 Davis Cup 1R \u2013 Croatia defeated USA 3-22005 Davis Cup QF \u2013 Croatia defeated Romania 4-12005 Davis Cup SF \u2013 Croatia defeated Russia 3-2<\/p>\n

Not prepared to let a legend of Croatian tennis miss out on the final, Ivanisevic was named in the squad to play Slovakia.<\/p>\n

Ivanisevic didn\u2019t play in the team\u2019s 3-2 win over Slovakia, but was a deserved champion as Croatia won their first title.<\/p>\n

\"GoranPhoto by Phil Cole\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Seven years later, Ivanisevic remembered the win, sharing his thoughts on Croatia\u2019s historic campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201c2005, when Croatia won the Davis Cup, we really achieved a lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really great to be there, and try to help them, try to say a few words, we were really like a team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, it was just a great experience to be there. I never thought that Croatia would one day win the Davis Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of Ivan Ljubicic\u2019s unbelievable performances throughout the year, he didn\u2019t lose a match, and Mario [Ancic] helping him in the doubles, it was just too good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Croatia won their second Davis Cup title in 2018, defeating France 3-1 in the final.<\/p>\n

They won\u2019t, however, compete in this year\u2019s Davis Cup Finals, having lost 3-1 to France in their recent playoff match.<\/p>\n

Ivanisevic will certainly be willing his team to return to the Finals next year, in search of a third title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Jannik Sinner won\u2019t play at the Davis Cup Finals this November. After helping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[430,29853,28018,432,99,428],"class_list":["post-247673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-atp","tag-davis-cup","tag-goran-ivanisevic","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}