"It was like he kicked me when I was already down": Stefanos Tsitsipas left 'really hurt' by scathing Ivanisevic comments

Stefanos Tsitsipas opened up on the criticism that was given by his former coach Goran Ivanisevic who has since gone on to start a new partnership which at least early on has bared fruit with a certain Arthur Fils.

After slipping out of the top 10 last April, he started working with the 2003 Grand Slam winner and he appointed him as his coach in May. He opened up a few weeks later about the tough regime that he underwent with his new coach and that he was being really strict on him.

“Any other player would probably freak out and be like, ‘How the heck is he allowed to talk to me like that?’ You know? Get it kind of personal. But I need this, because I need the truth and I need to have someone that’s tough with me," he said to Tennis365.

But he was soon slammed by Ivanisevic who said he had never seen a more physically unfit player in his life as per SportKlub. “He wants to, but he doesn’t do anything. All ‘I want, I want’, but I don’t see any progress.

“I was shocked, I’ve never seen a more unprepared player in my life. With this knee, I’m three times more prepared than him. This is really bad.”

He came under fire about the comments but given that his form hasn't switched much since then, Ivanisevic's comments may have credence given that Tsitsipas is now staring down the barrel of a continued form slump and Fils for instance is on the rise again after being injured and this after parting with his initial long time coach.

Sometimes that bares real resonance and works or doesn't. It didn't work for Tsitsipas who parted with his former coach in his father Apostolos who is now his coach again.

Ivanisevic doubled down on his comments again this past week saying that he knew he wouldn't succeed from early and that he is phenomenal but he advised him to take time off as he was burned out and wasn't going to achieve his potential.

“I knew after the second day of training [that it would not succeed]. When he came to Zagreb to try rackets, I understood that it wouldn’t work out,” he told Sport Klub.

“In the end, I didn’t say anything bad; everything I stated was true and proved to be so. After Wimbledon, I advised him to take four months off because it wasn’t just a physical issue but also mental.

“He remains a phenomenal player, he was and still is, but those are just details. In today’s tennis, you can’t compete without being mentally prepared.”

But Tsitsipas has since responded again now as per The Times and said he wasn't fit for a reason and had nothing to do with regime and that Ivanisevic's comments sting as they smack of kicking him when he's already down.

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

“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.”