Stefanos Tsitsipas Breaks Silence on Goran Ivanisevic’s Criticism of Him After Split: “He Kicked Me When I Was Already Down”

Goran Ivanisevic is currently coaching Arthur Fils, guiding him to this year's Qatar Open final.

Stefanos Tsitsipas Breaks Silence on Goran Ivanisevic’s Criticism of Him After Split: “He Kicked Me When I Was Already Down”

Stefanos Tsitsipas, Goran Ivanisevic (Image via X/Tiempo De Tenis)

In Short
  • Stefanos Tsitsipas and Goran Ivanisevic's partnership ended after Wimbledon amid public criticisms.
  • Tsitsipas expressed feeling physically hurt and criticized Ivanisevic's coaching tactics during his injury.
  • Tsitsipas has dropped outside the top 50 in rankings and last played at the Miami Open, losing 6-0, 6-1.

The relationship between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Goran Ivanisevic has soured, and both have started publicly criticizing each other. From Ivanisevic’s comment in a recent interview, it seemed there was no bad blood between them.

But one can guess from Tsitsipas’ interview with The Times that they have yet to bury their hatchet. Ivanisevic joined Tsitsipas’ team last year before the grass swing after parting ways with WTA World No.2 Elena Rybakina.

Their partnership ended after Wimbledon. While still in the team, Ivanisevic had publicly criticized Tsitsipas’ match-preparedness. The Greek ace, who added his father Apostolos Tsitsipas again to his team after the breakup with Ivanisevic, said he was really physically hurt at that time, and that Ivanisevic pushing him to work harder wasn’t the right tactic.

I didn’t see any point in it. If it was a way of him pushing me into working harder and getting my s**t together, it was definitely not the right tactic. I was really hurt.

Stefanos Tsitsipas said

Tsitsipas was forced to skip the remainder of the season after his second-round exit at the US Open. He’s struggling to play to his full potential even this season, as he has only twice won two matches in a row in a tournament.

I never expected that a coach could do that to me, and the worst thing is what he said was not true. I was not fit because I had been injured. I hadn’t been practising properly for over two weeks. It was like he kicked me when I was already down.

Stefanos Tsitsipas added

The last time the two-time Grand Slam finalist won a title was at the 2025 Dubai Tennis Championships. This year in the ATP 500 event, Ugo Humbert beat him in the opening round. Because of his poor performances, Tsitsipas has even dropped out of the top 50 and currently stands at 49th in the rankings.

Tsitsipas was last seen in action at the Miami Open, where Ivanisevic’s current protege Arthur Fils dismantled him 6-0, 6-1 in the third round. He is next set to play the Monte Carlo Masters, the first clay-court Masters 1000 of the season, which he won three times (2021, 2022, and 2024).

These are his only titles in the Masters 1000 levels. Tsitsipas will be up against 16th seed Francisco Cerundolo in the opening round of the Monte Carlo event.

Goran Ivanisevic backs Novak Djokovic to win another Grand Slam title

Goran Ivanisevic parted ways with Novak Djokovic back in 2024 after guiding the Serb to 12 of his 24 Grand Slam titles. During his interview with Sportklub, the Croatian coach said that if he had not worked with Djokovic, he would have thought it impossible for the Serb to win another Grand Slam title.

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic (Image via X/#AusOpen)

He will always be at the top. He will always be up there. Just look at how many tournaments he played last year, and he’s still the third in the world. No matter how much talk there is about youngsters, they’re not there. We have these two (Sinner and Alcaraz) who play a different sport, we have Alexander Zverev, who is always around, and Novak, who is special, the greatest tennis player of all time, and can never be ruled out of the title race.

Since winning his 24th Major title at the 2023 US Open, Djokovic has played two Grand Slam finals, with the most recent being the Australian Open title clash. Carlos Alcaraz came from a set down to defeat the 38-year-old and became the youngest Career Grand Slam champion.

En route to the defeat, he knocked out two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinals. Djokovic has pulled out of the Monte Carlo Masters.

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