Novak Djokovic can be a terror in defeat, with coach Goran Ivanisevic revealing the secret dynamic inside the camps of the world No. 1.
Team Djoko got a taste of the lash when their man lost a group match at last month’s ATP Finals to Jannik Sinner – a precursor to the final which the Serb won four days later in Turin.
But Ivanisevic said the boss’s dissatisfaction in defeat temporarily made life a misery,
“When something doesn’t go his way. He was torturing us, pulling out our nails and many other things but I can’t say that,” the noted Croatian jokester and former Wimbledon winner told We Are Tennis.
“But we are still here, we are alive. My heart is still fine. I am an older man and I need to be careful with my heart.
“We are here to make (him) feel better and perform better. Sometimes it’s not easy. “Sometimes it is very complicated.”
Ivanisevic added: “He is the best player in the history of tennis. I can only get angry with him when he yells at us for no reason.
“It’s not easy to deal with him when he is losing the match. On Tuesday night at the ATP Finals, he finished late.
“On Wednesday we didn’t see him at all and until Thursday we didn’t know what was going on. We were in the room and we didn’t know if we were going home or going to warm-up against (Hubert) Hurkacz.”
Ivanisevic likened Djokovic to the head of a major company, “seeking and demanding profits.”
“Those gains (wins) set you apart from others. Just like losses in a company, if he loses, he loses market share, resulting in a drop in ranking.
Nole, like any elite player, finds this too difficult to handle.”
Main photo:-Novak Djokovic and his coach Goran Ivanisevic holding the Wimbledon singles Trophy 2021 by AELTC/Bob Martin
