Ivanisevic Kecam Tsitsipas After Being Eliminated In The First Round Of Wimbledon

Croatian coach Goran Ivanisevic and his students Stefanos Tsitsipas Kanan) (photo: x @TennisCentel)

JAKARTA Croatian coach Goran Ivanisevic criticized his student, Stefanos Tsitsipas, after the Greek tennis player was eliminated in the first half of Wimbledon 2025 due to a back injury.

Ivanisevic, who was newly appointed Tsitsipas coach in May 2025, said he had "never seen a player who was more unprepared" throughout his career. He made this statement to the Serbian Sports Club network, shortly after Tsitsipas' surprise defeat of French qualifier. Valentin Royer, with a score of 6-3, 6-2 before stepping down due to injury.

"It's simple but not simple either. I've spoken to him a lot. If he solves some off-field problems, he still has a chance to get back to his original place. He's too good to be outside the top 10 of the world," Ivanisevic said.

But Ivanisevic added that Tsitsipas' desire was not in line with his actions.

"He said he wanted, wanted, wanted ... but I didn't see any progress. I was surprised. I've never seen a player who is more unprepared in my life. Even with my troubled knees, I'm three times fit than him. It's really bad," said the 2001 Wimbledon champion.

Tsitsipas, who is now ranked 26th in the world, has reached the Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros 2021 and the Australian Open 2023, but his performance has declined sharply in recent years. In the last 9 Grand Slams, he has only reached the quarter-finals once.

Prior to training Tsitsipas, Ivanisevic was widely known as part of Novak Djokovic's coaching team, where he played an important role in helping the Serbians win 9 out of a total of 24 Grand Slam titles, before separating in March last year. This season, Ivanisevic also briefly worked with Elena Rybakina, world number 11 from Kazakhstan.

Now, the future of cooperation between Ivanisevic and Tsitsipas is in doubt, especially with the player's declining performance and the lack of physical readiness that is the main focus of the coach.