Having already identified the proper person for the job, Goran Ivanisevic feels that Nenad Zimonjic is the ideal candidate to take over as Novak Djokovic’s next coach.
Djokovic revealed last week that he and Ivanisevic had parted ways, less than five years after they began working together. Ten Grand Slams, two ATP Finals championships, seven ATP Masters 1000 trophies, and countless individual records were produced by the pair.
The three-time Grand Slam men’s doubles champion has a wealth of experience working with Djokovic, having captained Serbia for two terms as the European nation’s Davis Cup captain in addition to coaching the team to victory at the 2020 ATP Cup.
Ivanisevic feels Zimonjic is the ideal person to coach Djokovic.
“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.”
Zimonjic, who also won five Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, has already accompanied Djokovic to Monte Carlo for next week’s ATP Masters 1000 event and Ivanisevic highlighted some of the 47-year-old’s strengths.
“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.”