Goran Ivanisevic critiques Novak Djokovic's shock Indian Wells loss: "Simply wasn't ready for that battle"

Novak Djokovic's last knockings when it came to being coached by Goran Ivanisevic came at the 2024 Indian Wells Open. He was dumped out by Luca Nardi and his ex-coach gave a damning verdict on the display.

Djokovic lost out 4-6, 6-3, 3-6 to the lucky loser to exit the ATP Masters 1000 tournament at the third round stage. Ivanisevic was disposed with after ahead of the clay court season. The World No.1 decided not to play in Miami the week after which is when the decision was announced.

Ivanisevic said that Nardi should be higher in the rankings, but that he wasn't ready for that battle and that the first set he lost was the worst he'd seen during their time together. He also mooted that Aleksandar Vukic could've beaten him too with belief during the US Open swing.

"To come back to this American swing, I think if (Aleksandar) Vukic believed more he probably could have beaten him as well," Ivanisevic said to SportKlub via Tennis Majors. "That first set against (Luca) Nardi was maybe the worst set that I saw him play in these five years that I’ve been his coach."
"The second he won, and the third I have to admit that Nardi saw that he could beat him, he hit 16 winners, not taking anything away from him," he added. "Novak simply wasn’t ready for that battle, even though he really tried it just didn’t go his way. Nardi is actually really good, in my opinion he should be in the top 50 already."

He also opened up further on reasoning for their split saying that Djokovic wanted to be with his family more. He said that it was difficult to find motivation every day too on both ends.

"Finding motivation every day, I’m with him in the training sessions and I watch it, it’s not easy to come every day to training and to motivate yourself, it's easier for the grand slams, but for these Masters it’s hard to train with intensity over and over again, even for a perfectionist such as he," Ivanisevic added. "It requires strength, passion, willpower... he wanted something different, to be more with family."