It has been quite an eventful year for coaches in the tennis world. Goran Ivanisevic’s season has been no different after his successful 5-year partnership with Novak Djokovic ended in March. During that tenure, the Serb won an astonishing 12 Grand Slam titles along with a host of other big trophies. However, both Djokovic and Ivanisevic were in need of a change. While the search took long for Ivanisevic, he was eventually appointed the coach of Elena Rybakina. Earlier this week, Ivanisevic broke his silence behind this decision.

Interestingly, the legendary coach hasn’t worked with any female player before Rybakina. He has coached the likes of Marin Cilic, Tomas Berdych, Milos Raonic, and Novak Djokovic but hasn’t had the experience of the WTA Tour. As a result, during an interview with Tennis Majors, Ivanisevic was asked what led to the decision to coach Rybakina, who is among the top players on the WTA circuit.

He said, “After Novak, it’s really hard to coach anyone, so I needed something completely different. When you’re the coach of the greatest player of all time, you just need something new. So the choice was some young player or something completely different, and this ’completely different’ was the WTA Tour.”

A few months back, Djokovic took to his official Instagram handle to announce the end of his partnership with Ivanisevic. Sharing a post on Instagram, the Serb wrote, “Goran and I decided to stop working together a few days ago. Our on-court chemistry had its ups and downs, but our friendship was always rock solid.” The two had joined forces ahead of the Wimbledon Championships in 2019 and found instant success there. However, the start of this year wasn’t great for Djokovic, which was one of the reasons behind their split.

Meanwhile, Ivanisevic has already expressed his confidence in Rybakina for the future. He has made a massive prediction that is certain to please Rybakina’s fans.

Goran Ivanisevic on Elena Rybakina: ‘Can win more Slams’

Back in 2022, Rybakina won her maiden Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon Championships. However, that remains her only major success to date as she has had inconsistent runs in big tournaments of late. Nonetheless, Ivanisevic, who is a decorated coach, is confident about turning things around.

Ivanisevic revealed, “Game-wise, she has got a big serve, tall, strong hitter who plays aggressively. She won Wimbledon just like me. I feel I can teach her something. I mean, she is already No. 5 in the world, but I think she can win more Slams, that’s for sure. Firstly, we need to get to know each other better. I won’t go too much into detail, but she’s got room for improvement in every aspect of the game.”

The two will join forces from the 2025 season onwards. Meanwhile, Rybakina’s woes on the court this season continue as she lost her opening two matches at the WTA Finals. She will take on Aryna Sabalenka in her last group-stage match tomorrow.