Stefanos Tsitsipas breaks silence on coach publicly blasting him then doubling down
Stefanos Tsitsipas has addressed ex-coach Goran Ivanisevic's brutal assessment of his fitness after being forced to retire from Wimbledon last summer. The Greek star's 2025 season was wrecked by a persistent back injury, which also forced him to throw in the towel mid-match while competing at the All England Club. At the time, Tsitsipas had just started working with Ivanisevic - a former Wimbledon champion himself, and Novak Djokovic's ex-coach - but their partnership was very short-lived, and they soon split.
Ivanisevic publicly slammed Tsitsipas' poor preparation and suggested that he was even fitter than the 27-year-old ace. "He has to find a solution for his back issue. I was shocked. I've never seen such a poorly prepared player in my life. Me, at my age and with this bad knee, I'm three times in better shape than him," the former world No. 2 told SportKlub.
The 54-year-old is now working with another ATP star, Arthur Fils, and recently doubled down on his tough claims about Tsitsipas. He told the same publication: "In the end, I didn't say anything bad. Everything I said was true and proved to be so."
But former world No. 3 Tsitsipas has now hit out at Ivanisevic's "hurtful" comments, explaining that his preparation was only hampered by an injury. "I didn't see any point in it. If it was a way of him pushing me into working harder and getting my s*** together, it was definitely not the right tactic. I was really hurt," he told The Times.
"I never expected that a coach could do that to me, and the worst thing is what he said was not true. I was not fit because I had been injured. I hadn't been practising properly for over two weeks. It was like he kicked me when I was already down."
Tsitsipas has since reunited with his father, Apostolos, who has been his coach on and off since he was young. They briefly parted ways in 2023, when Tsitsipas sought guidance from Mark Philippoussis.
But their more high-profile split came in 2024, after Tsitsipas hit out at his father following an early exit at the Canadian Open. "I need and I deserve a coach that listens to me and hears my feedback as a player. My father hasn't been very smart or very good at handling those situations, it's not the first time he has done that. I'm really disappointed at him," he said at the time.
A day later, the two-time Grand Slam finalist issued a public apology to his dad, but confirmed they had parted ways. Apostolos returned to the coaching camp last summer, and Tsitsipas has now addressed their emotional split in 2024.
"It was tough but I needed that space. It was a choice of survival on the tour. When I was younger, I was just silently following him. I was completely unbothered. But at some stage I grew up and had my own ideas and opinions. Now I feel like I need to be more proactive. I've matured more and I like to claim responsibility for myself," he added.
"It's emotional [reuniting] and we're trying to recalibrate and make this work and have fun with the game that we both love. It might cause tension sometimes, but we're pretty good right now."
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