"It's hard to work with dictators who speak poorly of you," Tsitsipas justifies ending his collaboration with Ivanisevic
The partnership lasted only a few weeks. While Goran Ivanisevic had become Stefanos Tsitsipas’ new coach ahead of the grass-court season, the two men stopped working together, as announced by the Greek player on his social media.
Though he wished the Croatian the best for his future projects on Instagram in recent hours, the world No. 29 explained the end of their partnership, also stating that he wanted to be surrounded by his father Apostolos again during his upcoming tournaments.
"If I work with the right people, I know there will be a good working atmosphere and I’ll feel comfortable. That doesn’t mean feeling comfortable equates to stopping training when I want or doing it with less intensity.
The people I trust are those who value effort and create a pleasant working environment where I can grow as a player.
It’s hard to work with dictators who speak poorly of you and are neither close to you nor your circle. I want to build a team that’s like a family, with people I can rely on as friends even after my career ends.
The way I treated my father by ending our working relationship wasn’t right. We talked about it, and I apologized to him. We explored new ways to communicate so incidents like this won’t happen again in the future.
I love my father with all my heart—everything he’s done for me is deeply moving. I never want to be separated from my family. There might be some tension, but I’ll never have another relationship like the one I share with my father.
The mistakes I’ve made in my career are that, at times, I overtrained and played too many tournaments, which ruined my morale and my relationship with tennis.
You have to know when to stop and realize that talent alone isn’t enough. Everyone must find their own path to be part of the elite. Right now, I feel closer to that 15-year-old Stefanos who loved tennis.
I train 3 to 4 hours a day with the right mindset, and I believe if I keep this up, I’ll soon return to where I deserve to be," Tsitsipas explained to Punto De Break.
