The former tennis great and 2001 Wimbledon champion, Goran Ivanisevic says that Djokovic beat Federer even if it wasn’t his best day in Wimbledon. Ivanisevic said that he did not expect Roger Federer to play that well in the Wimbledon finals. In an interview, the Croat commented:
“Even if all of us know Roger Federer very well, I have to admit that I did not think he would play so well.”
Is Djokovic a better player than Federer?
The Wimbledon 2019 final lasted after nearly 5 hours of a brutal fight between two greats of the game, Federer and Djokovic. The Croat thinks that Federer was in best form on the finals day while the Serbian was not at his best, yet he managed to win the match. Ivanisevic who joined Novak’s coaching team at Wimbledon thinks that he is unbeatable when he is physically well prepared. He has an incredible return and has a very strong mind.
Novak has great respect for the Croatian and says that he goes along with the Croatian very well:
“I get along with him very well. I spoke to Marian and we both agreed that we were looking for someone that was a former champion, someone that knows how I feel on the court, someone that has been through that, we agreed with the concept, so to say, the idea of introducing a new coach to our team, an addition like Boris Becker was back a few years ago. It was a very successful period with Boris. We’re hoping we can have the same with Goran.”
When Novak invited Ivanisevic to join his coaching team at Wimbledon then the tabloids in Serbia termed this partnership as ‘scandalous’. There is a history behind it – Croatia fought a bloody war for independence and the nationalist sentiments are still very high in both the countries.
Djokovic’s mother is from Croatia and Novak thinks of the country as his own:
“Goran comes from Croatia, I’m from Serbia. We both come from the country that was once called Yugoslavia.”
