Goran Ivanisevic on Novak Djokovic's character: It's not easy to…

Croatian coach reveals what it’s like to work with Novak, the demands of the
world No. 1 and what happened during the ATP Finals

No. 1 and he does not hesitate to praise his pupil’s ability to improve every
day and how complicated it is to deal with him when he is losing a match.

Djokovic experienced his most recent loss to the hands of the Italian Jannik
Sinnerin the Davis Cup on November 25 and losing is something that the Serbian
never takes particularly well, in fact, he is known for getting “second wind”
in games he is facing defeat to rally back and to win and Ivanisevic
understands his anger.

“Who am I to get angry with him? He is the best player in the history of
tennis,” Ivanisevic said to We Are Tennis. “Sometimes I can only get mad at him
when he yells at us for no reason. When he loses a match, he always gives his
best and tries his best. But it’s not easy to deal with him when he’s losing.

“Tuesday night at the ATP Finals he finished late. On Wednesday we didn’t see
him. To be honest, until Thursday we didn’t know what was going on. We were in
the room. We didn’t know if we were going home or if we were going to the
warm-up against [Hubert] Hurkacz. We finally found out that he was going to
play.

“I think he made a good decision to stay calm. I know it’s not easy to get
motivated. He won everything. He finished in the No. 1 spot. But he always
finds motivation. He always wants more. He wants something better all the time.

“He chained us with handcuffs for three days. He’s not an easy guy, let’s put
it this way. Especially when something doesn’t go his way. He was torturing us,
pulling out our fingernails and many more things but that I can’t say. But we
are still here, we are alive. I am an old man and I need to be careful with my
heart. We are here to make it feel better and to perform better. Sometimes it’s
very complicated.”

Ivanisevic knew his client would win the ATPs

Ivanisevic confesses that when Sinner beat Holger Rune, which gave Novak
access to the semifinals of the ATP Finals, he had no doubt that Djokovic would
take the title, and he did by defeating his rival 6-3 and 6-3 to claim the
championship in straight sets.

“From that moment on I knew Novak was going to win the tournament. When the
real Novak Djokovic hits the court, then no one can play with him.”

How to make someone understand how Djokovic works?

Ivanisevic pulls comparison to talk about Djokovic’s day-to-day life in tennis
by comparing the legendary player to a business owner seeking to squeeze every
last possible performance out of the company he controls.

By doing so, he brings down the superhuman talent of the Serbian to a more
understandable level for ordinary people who have never experienced the
high-pressure and high demands of professional sports.

“A good analogy would be to name Novak Djokovic as a CEO of a company,”
Ivanisevic said. “He seeks and demands profits. Those profits distinguish him
from others. Like losses in a company, if he loses, he loses market share,
resulting in a drop in the rankings. Nole, like any elite player, finds this
too difficult to handle.”

It is very difficult, but he wants to improve. That’s the good and the bad for
me as a coach and for the rest of the team. I think he improved a lot his
volleys, his game and position at the net. Now when he gets to the net in
general and this year, he hits some unbelievable volleys.

“It’s very difficult to pass to him, before it was very easy. He feels
comfortable at the net. In the US Open final he played two or three of the most
important volleys in the final againstMedvedev. He’s not afraid to go to the
net. He’s hitting his forehands much harder. On serve, I think on the second
serve, he’s sometimes over 200kph. He’s just going for it.”