Novak Djokovic backed to make coach call with French Open in view after Ivanisevic split | Tennis | Sport

Novak Djokovic has been backed to stick to what he knows after parting ways with Goran Ivanisevic. The world No. 1 announced their sudden split on Wednesday after having a disappointing start to the season by his standards. Following the shock news, Andy Roddick believes that Djokovic won’t want to enter the unknown with the French Open on the horizon.

Djokovic and Ivanisevic recently decided to stop working together following an incredibly successful partnership. The Croat first appeared in his box at Wimbledon in 2019 and Djokovic went on to lift the title.

Ivanisevic initially split his duties with Djokovic’s long-time coach Marian Vajda but Vajda left the camp at the end of 2021 with the news only revealed a few months later. It means that the 36-year-old is now without a coach altogether.

And one of his old rivals believes that he will enlist a familiar face instead of forging a new relationship at this stage of his career – potentially even Vajda. “It seems like he always kind of ends back up with Vajda when something like this happens. That’s happened a couple of times,” Roddick told Tennis Channel.

“It’d be hard for me to think someone 37 years old goes with an entirely new scenario, goes through the vetting process, gets to know someone.” The American also noted that the French Open was just a few weeks away, and didn’t think Djokovic would want the hassle of finding a new voice ahead of a Grand Slam.

The 2003 US Open winner added: “You’re on a shortish timeline going into Roland-Garros, so my instinct is that he goes back into something that is known, that is familiar.

“I’d be surprised if six to eight weeks out from Roland Garros, he just starts an entirely new relationship. But I’ve been wrong before, I’ll be wrong again, but I’d be surprised if it was someone completely new.”