"Something new has to happen every day": Novak Djokovic very demanding according to ex-coach Goran Ivanisevic

Goran Ivanisevic opened up about the demanding nature of working with Novak Djokovic after their six year partnership came to an end earlier this season and how the demands were every day instead of every tournament.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion who is yet to win a title in 2024 so far has since hired Nenad Zimonjic. But this is more on a temporary consultancy role. This as opposed to a full time job. The 36-year-old will be playing his first Grand Slam under this partnership. Albeit without it being permanent. Ivanisevic laid bare how it was working with the World No.1.

Ivanisevic said that he was always looking for improvement. But that his background helped understand aspects that perhaps other coaches wouldn't. But that it was certainly a job for the faint of heart. Despite that though, he found immense joy in doing so. Like anything, the pressure can either make or break someone and in the case of Ivanisevic they thrived.

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But with Djokovic currently undergoing a perceived slump, it is not a partnership ending that has produced an upward curve but has stayed the same almost. "Well, when you train Novak Djokovic, anything other than winning the title at any tournament is a failure. That's a lot of pressure to deal with. Novak is very demanding. Something new has to happen every day, he always wants to get better. If you can't handle it, it's better not to take the job at all," Ivanisevic said to Blick.

"The language certainly helped me – we had no barrier between us. With Novak it's like this: you only have a few seconds to explain something to him. He then wants to know 15 things from you at once, but you only have three seconds to do it. So you have to try to summarize everything in some clever way. It can be hard, but I enjoyed it with Novak," he added.

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Novak Djokovic is very gentle athlete ... Class act!

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