Elena Rybakina hires Goran Ivanisevic, formerly with Novak Djokovic, as new coach

Posted by Admin November 1, 2024 Tennis

World No. 5 Elena Rybakina will be coached by Goran Ivanisevic for the 2025 season and beyond.

Rybakina confirmed the partnership in a news conference at the WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Play begins Saturday November 2, with Rybakina drawn against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, world No. 4 Jasmine Paolini and world No. 7 Zheng Qinwen in the group stages.

“Really looking forward to this partnership. I think he’s great champion and he has so much experience,” Rybakina said.

“I want to learn.”

Ivanisevic was most recently coaching Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion. They split in March 2024, having spent six seasons together in which Djokovic won 12 Grand Slam titles. He will join Rybakina’s team in the offseason following the WTA Tour Finals.

Rybakina announced her split with former coach Stefano Vukov on the eve of the U.S. Open, from which she withdrew before her second-round match. Despite a season marred by injuries and poor health, Rybakina’s results in the early part of the year — including three titles and two finals in four months — earned her enough points to qualify for the season-ending event.

In the other Grand Slams, Rybakina lost an excruciating third-set tiebreak 22-20 to Anna Blinkova in Melbourne. She then lost to Paolini in the quarterfinals of the French Open, and after easing through the first few rounds and one set of her semifinal at Wimbledon, slumped to defeat against a resurgent Barbora Krejcikova, who would ultimately lift the title.

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Ivanisevic won Wimbledon in 2001, reaching a career high of No. 2 in the world. He coached Marin Cilic to his only Grand Slam title at the 2014 U.S. Open, splitting with Cilic in 2016. He started coaching Djokovic in 2019.

Rybakina is the latest in a string of players at the top of the women’s game to make coaching changes this summer and autumn. World No. 2 Iga Swiatek hired Wim Fissette after splitting with Tomas Wiktorowski, with whom she won four Grand Slam titles; world No. 3 Coco Gauff split with Brad Gilbert, with whom she won her only Grand Slam title to date, and hired Matt Daly to join her team. Naomi Osaka, who formerly worked with Fissette and won two Grand Slam titles with him, replaced him with Patrick Mouratoglou.

(Julian Finney / Getty Images)