Former Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic hopes to revive Tsitsipas’s career ahead of grass season.
By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Thursday, May 29, 2025
Photo credit: ROLEX/Antoine Couvercelle
For Stefanos Tsitsipas, a new surface and a new coach may just bring about a summer revival to his career.
Tsitsipas, after losing early at this year’s Roland-Garros, is set to start taking direction from former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic ahead of the grass court swing.
Ivanisevic, 53, will join Tsitsipas at the start of the upcoming Halle Open in Germany for a trial period. Apostolos Tsitsipas, Stefanos’ father, who has been coaching his son recently, will now not be a part of the team, according to Greek media outlet SDNA.
Stefanos Tsitsipas will start working with Goran Ivanisevic next week. https://t.co/HEXBWu3fCN
— Vicky Georgatou (@VGeorgatou) May 29, 2025
This afternoon, Tsitsipas confirmed the coaching partnership in a statement.
“Working with Goran is an exciting opportunity for me,” said Tsitsipas. “He is someone who has reached the highest levels of tennis, both as a player and as a coach.
“I am confident that his experience will help me grow further and I am really looking forward to that.”
Known for his tactical acumen and candid coaching style, Ivanisevic has guided both Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic to Grand Slam championships.
One of the most lethal servers of his generation, Ivanisevic helped reconstruct Cilic’s serve sparking his run to the US Open championship.
“Stefanos is a very talented tennis player with a strong work ethic,” said Ivanišević. “He has shown that he belongs among the best, and I’m happy to be part of the next steps of his journey.
“My goal is to enable him to thrive, building on the strong foundation he has already laid.”
It’s been a tough few months for Tsitsipas, 26, who is a former two-time major finalist and reached a career high of World No. 3 back in 2021.
Despite reaching the quarterfinals recently at Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, Tsitsipas will now leave the world’s top 20 for the first time since 2018 after his second round lose in Paris to Italian qualifier Matteo Gigante. Tsitsipas, who dropped to No. 26 in the ATP Live Rankings, failed to survive the second round for the fourth consecutive Slam.
Earlier in Monte-Carlo, Tsitsipas refused to confirm then that Ivanisevic would join his team.
Tsitsipas, after the loss in Paris, spoke about his struggles to regain his winning form from a few years ago.
“It’s a constant puzzle,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m ambitious, and I want to prove it on the tennis court. Things have definitely changed over the last couple of years, and I know that I find myself in a completely different position now.”
Ivanisevic, who coached Novak Djokovic for over five years, recently ended his brief coaching partnership with WTA star and former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina earlier this year.
Both of Tsitsipas’ parents have been instrumental coaches in his development, however some feel his parents intervention has hurt past coaching relationships, including one with former Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis.
It’s unlikely Hall of Famer Ivanisevic will have too much tolerance if Tsitsipas’ parents get involved as he walked away from Rybakina’s team when she announced plans to reunite with her former coach as a coaching consultant.
Among the challenges Ivanisevic faces is rebuilding Tsitsipas’ confidence, trying to solve his backhand return issues and helping him impose his all-court skills rather than relying solely on his serve plus forehand combination.
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