Novak Djokovic has yet to decide on who he might appoint as a coach in the future but his former mentor has named ‘the perfect person.’
Last week it was confirmed that Goran Ivanisevic has departed Djokovic’s team following a mutual agreement between the two. The former Wimbledon champion worked with Djokovic between 2018-2024 and guided him to a series of milestones in his career. The development follows what has been a testing start to the season for the world No.1 who is yet to win a title. He reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open before losing in the third round of the Indian Well Masters.
Now he is no longer working with the 24-time Grand Slam winner, Ivanisevic believes an ideal replacement for him is Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic who is no stranger to Djokovic. The 47-year-old reached No.1 in doubles during his playing career and has worked as captain of the Serbian Davis Cup team.
“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 (Nenad Zimonjic),” Ivanisevic told Tennis Majors. “He is a great friend of mine, we went through a lot together and I love him. He has a 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.”
The two have trained together before and are currently doing so. Zimonjic was recently with Djokovic in Belgrade where he was preparing for the clay season and they have both now travelled to Monte Carlo ahead of the next Masters event.
“Ziki can help him tennis-wise. 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,” Ivanisevic commented.
Whilst Zimonjic has Ivanisevic’s blessing, there has been no public comment on the likelihood of such a scenario happening. Djokovic had previously told reporters that he is weighing up his options, which includes the possibility of not hiring another coach. He is still working with other members of his team, including fitness trainer Marco Panichi and agent/sparring partner Carlos Gomez Herrera.
Djokovic is currently 1115 points ahead of his nearest challenger (Jannik Sinner) in the ATP PIF rankings. He is set to return to competitive tennis at the Monte Carlo Masters next week.
