Goran Ivanisevic Blasts Nick Kyrgios for Criticizing Novak Djokovic

Published 09/24/2019, 10:56 AM EDT

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Novak Djokovic’s coach Goran Ivanisevic takes a dig on Nick Kyrgios for criticizing his pupil. Nick Kyrgios had blasted the world No.1 to be ‘cringeworthy’ and having a ‘sick obsession’ with himself. The Serbian did not get involved in the war of words with the Australian. However, his coach fires back at the hot-headed player.

Ivanisevic explained that Nick Kyrgios defaming the 16-time Grand Slam champion is not good as he did not do any wrong to him and Kyrgios is picking on him for no reason. Goran Ivanisevic also feels that the 24-year-old should respect his opponents.

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He said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, “It’s bad because I don’t think Novak did anything wrong to him. He decides to pick on Novak for no reason. You can come to the court and do whatever you want, but you need to respect your opponent.”

Djokovic’s coach further praised Kyrgios as he has the caliber to win a Grand Slam title and reach the top five in the ATP rankings but he should concentrate less on Novak Djokovic and take care of himself.

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Ivanisevic said: “He speaks a lot about Novak, only he knows the reason. But he should just take care of himself because he should be in the top five, he could win a Grand Slam.”

He further added: “He’s never going to win a Grand Slam with the approach he has now. If he could change it that would be great for him and for tennis.”

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Novak Djokovic is currently recovering from his shoulder injury. He was forced to retire from the fourth round of the US Open 2019 when he was trailing two sets and a break in the third against Stan Wawrinka. The Serbian has not played since then and is planning to return on tour from next month during the Asian swing.

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Written by:

Varun Khanna

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Starting off as a tennis author in 2018, Varun Khanna has gone on to contribute to EssentiallySports in various capacities. After setting up interviews with the likes of Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Alizé Cornet, and Noah Rubin, Varun is now part of all major ATP and WTA press conferences and has gone on to pen more than 1300 articles for EssentiallySports. He now heads the tennis and NBA division of the organization.
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