'He became even better than them,' Novak Djokovic’s coach reveals how Roger Federer was stopped from being invincible

The Swiss tennis maestro ruled the tour in the first half of the 2000s. However, Federer soon got a worthy opponent in Rafael Nadal, who threatened to end the Swiss’ dominance. A couple of years later, another star emerged and challenged both the legends of the sport. Novak Djokovic came in as a revelation and bettered his rivals.

Fast forward to 2024, Djokovic leads Federer and Nadal in the tally of Grand Slam titles won. The Serbian is also the player with the most number of ATP Finals titles and Djokovic is also the player with the most weeks as ATP No. 1. All of these records were owned by either Federer or Nadal before Djokovic started his reign.

The Serbian’s former coach, Goran Ivanisevic, has talked about this dominance from Djokovic and has claimed that the Serbian stopped Federer from turning into an invincible player. Ivanisevic acknowledged the shift in dominance, with Nadal becoming the first player to challenge Federer.

A second guy appeared first: Rafael Nadal. Everyone thought that tennis was going to come down to a duel between Federer and Nadal. But a third player came along, and he became even better than them. You know who I'm talking about: Mr. Novak. In fact, these three helped each other, they pushed each other to do better. Goran Ivanisevic said in a recent interview.

Goran Ivanisevic terms his experience with Novak Djokovic “not easy”

Goran Ivanisevic further talked about his experience with Novak Djokovic. As the pair was deemed the most successful on the ATP Tour, Ivanisevic dove deep into his tenure with the Serbian. He called his overall experience “not easy,” as there were complicated moments. 

Ivanisevic said that while Djokovic is the best tennis player in the world and they achieved enormous success together, it was not easy for him to coach the Serbian ace. He also remembered the controversies surrounding Djokovic and claimed that these were some key moments in his tenure as the Serbian’s coach.

Novak is a genius. He is an extraordinary person, he is the best player in the history of tennis. But it hasn't always been easy, I guarantee you. We went through phases of it during this period. First there was the pandemic, then this disqualification at the US Open. There is also this episode at Melbourne airport, in short, there were complicated moments. Goran Ivanisevic said.

Notably, Djokovic and Ivanisevic split after four years of partnership over on-court complications. It was said that Djokovic was not happy about the lack of input from his coach during his matches. Nevertheless, they share a great bond, which both have acknowledged despite the split.