"His tennis IQ is off the charts": Goran Ivanisevic decides who should take over Novak Djokovic coaching role

Goran Ivanisevic doesn't think that Novak Djokovic should seek any sort of outside help and already has his perfect coach alongside him in the interim as he prepares for the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters.

Nenad Zimonjic, a former legendary doubles star and World No.1 has taken over from Ivanisevic on a temporary basis as a trusted ally of Djokovic. It has been mooted in certain sections of the media that Judy Murray and Amelie Mauresmo are being considered in a different move for Djokovic than the norm. But Zimonjic knows Djokovic well and has previously been on his coaching team in 2022 and knowing him well, he sees it as the perfect move. The seal of approval from his former coach.

“I don’t know for how much longer Novak plans to keep on playing, but the perfect person is with him at the moment – Ziki,” he told Sport Klub (translated by Tennis Majors).

“He is a great friend of mine, we went through a lot together and I love him. He has vast tennis knowledge, but what is most important – he knows Novak really well.

“At the moment, Novak doesn’t need someone completely new, who is yet to get to know him. Let’s say 10 days pass, Novak ‘goes crazy’ and this new coach is left wondering what is going on.

“I have a theory – men from the Balkans can coach anyone, but only someone from this, our region can coach a Balkan player. Marian [Vajda] is Slovak, we’re close and we know each other well. Boris [Becker] also worked well with Novak, but his tennis IQ is off the charts.”

“Ziki can help him tennis-wise,” he added. “Novak does know everything already, but it will be refreshing for him to maybe hear the same thing from someone else, with a different approach. Ziki knows Novak’s mentality really well, they collaborated in the Davis Cup as well.”