A public dispute between two super coaches is heating up in the tennis world. It’s all about Stefanos Tsitsipas.
In tennis, a dispute between Goran Ivanisevic and Patrick Mouratoglou, the two most successful coaches of recent years, has escalated. It’s about how to deal with Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Ivanisevic was supposed to lead the Greek out of a deep crisis, but left after two tournaments because he publicly criticized his protégé before the split. And it was precisely this approach that recently angered Mouratoglou. After all, he discovered Tsitsipas at a young age, promoted the star at the Mouratoglou Academy in Nice, and was his coach from 2018 to 2021.
Things were still going well under Mouratoglou, with the right-hander rising to the top of the world rankings. His criticism was followed by a counterattack. “I’ll talk to him when I see him. That’s for sure. You don’t do something like that. If he has a problem with me, he should call me and tell me what he thinks. And I’ll tell him what I think. I don’t go around saying what I think about him. And I’d better not do that now either. I’ll keep quiet for now,“ Ivanisevic railed in an interview with former professional player Anna Chakvetadze.
He went on to attack his fellow coach: ”Let’s put it this way: when I go to Toronto or Cincinnati, I’m most looking forward to seeing Mouratoglou. I know why he did it, but still: I’ve never had a problem with any coach in my life. Coaches should support each other and not go on the internet and talk about other coaches.”
Tennis legends Ivanisevic and Mouratoglou argue
Ivanisevic is a national hero in Croatia after his legendary Wimbledon victory in 2001. The former serve giant was part of Novak Djokovic’s coaching team from 2018 to March 2024, during which time Djokovic won 12 of his 24 Grand Slam titles.
Mouratoglou, on the other hand, was Serena Williams’ coach from 2012 until her retirement in 2022. The duo won ten Grand Slams together.
Now the Frenchman has angered his colleague with his comments on Instagram about the split between Tsitsipas and Ivanisevic.
He said in the video: “Ivanisevic is going through a bad patch. And he knows it’s a bad patch. That’s no surprise. If you look at Stefanos’ results over the last year, they are a long way from what he has achieved before. So Goran knows it’s a difficult period. Either you accept that or you don’t,” Mouratoglou explained.
The star coach added: “To me, it feels like he’s ashamed of the results and distancing himself from Stefanos by saying, ‘It’s not me. I’m good. He’s not good. It’s his fault.’”
