Goran Ivanisevic coached Miloš Raonic from February 2018 to early 2019. The Canadian, ranked 31st in the world at the time, had been searching for a new coach after an injury-disrupted 2017 season. The partnership produced some positive results but ended after less than a year, with Ivanisevic later speaking frankly about the difficulties involved.
The Trial and Appointment — Early 2018
In February 2018, Raonic held separate coaching trials — with Jonas Björkman during the Delray Beach Open and with Ivanisevic during the Indian Wells Masters. After making the semi-finals at Indian Wells, Raonic chose Ivanisevic as his coach.
The appointment made sense on paper. Raonic was known for one of the biggest serves on tour, and Ivanisevic — the sport's foremost authority on serve mechanics — offered obvious technical value. Raonic had reached the Wimbledon final in 2016 and was looking to recapture that form after injury setbacks.
Results and Difficulties
Raonic's results improved during the partnership — the Indian Wells semi-final in 2018 was an early positive sign. However, Ivanisevic later described the working relationship as fundamentally difficult, citing a lack of communication as the central problem.
The partnership ended just before the 2019 Indian Wells Masters, when Raonic announced he would be working with a new coach, Fabrice Santoro.
It was like talking to a wall. I had more meaningful communication with Novak Djokovic in one hour than with Raonic in an entire year.
Ivanisevic made those comments in a December 2019 interview, ten months after the split, while already coaching Djokovic. He added that Raonic should have hired a psychiatrist rather than a coach — a characteristically direct assessment that attracted significant media attention.