When Goran Ivanisevic retired from professional tennis in 2004, the question was what would come next for one of the sport's most colourful personalities. The answer turned out to be coaching — and a second career that in some respects matched the achievement of the first.
Where many former champions struggle to translate their playing ability into effective coaching, Ivanisevic proved the exception. His two major coaching roles — with Marin Cilic and then Novak Djokovic — each produced Grand Slam titles, making him one of a very small number of players who have won a Grand Slam both as a player and as a coach.
The Transition Years
After retiring, Ivanisevic took time away from the tour before gradually moving into coaching and commentary. He worked informally with younger Croatian players and established himself as a respected analyst and ambassador for the sport in his home country.
Croatia had emerged as a genuine tennis nation during the 2000s — partly due to the inspiration Ivanisevic's own playing career had provided — and he remained a central figure in its tennis community. His decision to take a formal coaching role came when Marin Cilic, the most talented Croatian player of the next generation, approached him for support.
Coaching Marin Cilic to the US Open
Marin Čilić
🏆 US Open 2014Ivanisevic began working with Marin Cilic in September 2013. At the time, Cilic was ranked outside the top 20 and had shown promise without delivering on his Grand Slam potential.
The coaching partnership produced results quickly. At the 2014 US Open, Cilic — seeded 14th — produced one of the tournament's great upsets, defeating Roger Federer in the semi-finals and Kei Nishikori in the final to claim his first and only Grand Slam title. Ivanisevic had been Cilic's idol growing up in Croatia, and the mentor-student dynamic gave the partnership genuine emotional depth.
Cilic later credited Ivanisevic with improving not just his technical game — particularly his serve — but his mental approach and ability to compete on the biggest stages. The pair worked together until 2016.
Coaching Novak Djokovic to History
Novak Djokovic
🏆 Multiple SlamsIn December 2018, Novak Djokovic announced Ivanisevic as his new head coach. The partnership began immediately with a Wimbledon-level mission: to help Djokovic reclaim dominance after injury disruptions and extend his Grand Slam record beyond those of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
The results were extraordinary. Djokovic won the 2019 Australian Open within weeks of Ivanisevic's arrival, and added Wimbledon later that year. Over the five-year partnership, he won Grand Slam titles at all four major venues and became the outright record-holder for most men's Grand Slam singles titles in history.
Ivanisevic's contribution went beyond technical coaching. His first-hand experience of Wimbledon finals, his understanding of serve patterns on grass, and his own mental journey — from three final defeats to an improbable triumph — gave him unique credibility in Djokovic's corner.
The partnership ended in 2024 by mutual agreement. It remains one of the defining coaching relationships in modern tennis.
Hall of Fame and Legacy
In 2020, Goran Ivanisevic was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. The induction recognised both his playing career and his broader contribution to the sport.
His legacy is unusual in tennis: he is one of very few people who can claim Grand Slam success as both player and coach. He won Wimbledon as a wildcard in 2001 — an achievement that remains unique in the Open Era — and then watched from the coach's box as his players won Grand Slams at every major tournament on the calendar.
For Croatian tennis, his significance is even greater. He inspired a generation of players, helped develop the next generation through coaching, and served as an ambassador for the sport in a country that had only been independent for a decade when he first reached a Grand Slam final.