Novak Djokovic announces shock departure of long-term coach – ‘Thanks for everything my friend’

The tennis world was taken aback when Novak Djokovic revealed that he and Goran Ivanisevic had “decided to stop working together a few days ago.”

The decision to sever ties comes after Djokovic’s challenging start to the 2024 season, which included defeats to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open semifinal and world No. 123 Luca Nardi in the Indian Wells Open semifinal.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion then made the decision to forego competing in the Miami Open, opting instead to take a long rest prior to the clay-court season.

And since Ivanisevic announced their breakup on social media, the world No. 1 will enter the red dirt campaign alone.

“I can still clearly recall the day I extended an invitation to Goran to join my team. Marian and I were trying to experiment and add some serve magic to our tandem back in 2018,” he stated.

In actuality, we not only brought serve to the table but also a ton of smiles, a great year-end rating, record-breaking feats, and 12 more Grand Slams (as well as a few finals) to the tally since then. Did I also mention a little drama? #Nolefam is aware of

“A few days ago, Goran and I made the decision to part ways professionally. Although there were ups and downs in our on-court chemistry, our friendship remained unwavering. Not sure if he is aware of this, but in addition to winning competitions together, we also engaged in a long-running side conflict in Parchisi. And for us, the competition never ends.

Ivanisevic joined the Djokovic coaching setup full-time in 2019 after serving as a consultant in 2018. He initially collaborated with Marián Vajda until Vajda’s departure in 2021, at which point he assumed complete command.

After a challenging 2017 season that saw many write him off, Djokovic returned to dominate the sport and has won an incredible 12 Grand Slams since the 2018 season began.

With Ivanisevic in his corner, the great tennis player has dominated nearly every tennis metric. He now holds the records for the most Grand Slam victories (24), the most weeks at No. 1, and the most ATP Masters 1000 championships won (40).