Goran Ivanisevic, the coach of Novak Djokovic, has disclosed that following his disappointing loss to Jannik Sinner of Italy last week, he did not see the world No. 1 for an entire day.
As the overwhelming favorite to win the ATP finals, Djokovic was defeated by Sinner in a final set tiebreak after needing three sets to overcome Holger Rune in his opening match.
Ivanisevic wasn’t sure if he would even play his final group match against Hubert Hurkacz until the very last minute because of Djokovic’s reaction to the loss, which left him without a guarantee of making it to the semi-finals.
Ivanisevic revealed this in an interview and said: “Tuesday night ended late. On Wednesday, we didn’t even see him all day. We didn’t know what was happening until Thursday. We were in the locker room and we didn’t know if we were going to have to go home or if we had to go do the warm-up.”
Ivanisevic, a previous Wimbledon champion, acknowledges that Djokovic can be difficult to deal with following a setback, but when asked if he was upset with the Serb for not informing him of his whereabouts, he replied: “Who am I to be mad at Novak? He is the best in history. He only makes me angry when he yells at us for no reason. He is the number one and he always wants more, to improve all the time.”
Novak Djokovic in 2023
Ranked no.1, Novak played his last match on the 23rd
of November when he defeated world no.18 Cameron Norrie 6-4 6-4 in the Rubber 2 of the Davis Cup (draw).This season Novak has managed to achieve a 56-6 match record. Djokovic clinched 7 titles in 2023 in Adelaide, Australian Open, French Open, Cincinnati, U.S. Open, Paris and the Nitto ATP Finals. Djokovic was the runner-up in Wimbledon.
Jannik Sinner in 2023
Now ranked no.4 (career-high), the Italian played his last match on the 23rd of November when he beat world no.23 Tallon Griekspoor 7-6(3) 6-1 in the Rubber 2 of the Davis Cup (draw).
During this season Jannik has achieved a 62-15 record. The Italian has won 4 titles in 2023 in Montpellier, Toronto, Beijing and Vienna. Jannik reached the final in Rotterdam, Miami and the Nitto ATP Finals.
Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner squared off 5 times. Their actual record is 4-1 for Djokovic. The last time they locked horns, Novak Djokovic won 6-3 6-3 in the final in Turin (Nitto ATP Finals) on the 19th of November 2023.
In the following video you can watch the highlights.
Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner |
| Embed from Getty Images |