Goran Ivanisevic mentioned he by no means doubted Novak Djokovic’s resilience after the Serb beat Nick Kyrgios within the Wimbledon last to win his twenty first Grand Slam title and switch round a yr that started with him being deported from Australia.
Djokovic gained the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2021 however was unable to defend his Melbourne Park crown attributable to his refusal to get vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19.
The Serb was deported on the eve of the hardcourt main and his coach Ivanisevic mentioned it had been an actual setback for your complete group.
“(It was) a troublesome yr, particularly for him, but in addition for us that had been near him,” Ivanisevic informed reporters on Sunday. “Folks, after that they by no means come again to tennis or to something.
“All of us anticipated for him (to say) after a few weeks, ‘okay, neglect about Australia, let’s return and observe.’ It didn't occur like that. It took a very long time ...
“Unbelievable how he recovered and the way he bought by that. It’s actually for me heroic as a result of it was not straightforward to digest every little thing and are available again to play tennis. Folks like him you don’t doubt. He’s a terrific champion.”
Djokovic, who had misplaced each his two earlier conferences with Kyrgios, needed to present resilience of a distinct sort on Sunday, preventing again from a set right down to win 4-6 6-3 6-4 7-6(3).
Ivanisevic heaped reward on Kyrgios, saying it was nearly unattainable to organize for a match in opposition to a participant as unpredictable because the Australian.
“Nick Kyrgios is a genius, tennis genius,” the Croatian mentioned. “Kyrgios, for me is the perfect server within the sport by far. Unbelievable tennis participant.”
Ivanisevic additionally mentioned he needed to give Djokovic a fast refresher on the match’s historical past after the Serbian mentioned in his on-court interview that he was impressed to take up tennis after watching Pete Sampras win Wimbledon in 1992.
Sampras has really misplaced to Ivanisevic within the semi-finals that yr, with the Croat then defeated by Andre Agassi within the last.
“I mentioned, ‘Man, it was me within the 1992 last,’” Ivanisevic mentioned. “Sampras was within the semi-final dropping to me!”
