Ivanisevic: If Novak wants to beat Nadal, he must be ready for 27 sets and playing for 57 hours

Photo: ATA Images

Novak Djokovic's coach, Goran Ivanisevic, attended a cocktail at the French Open, and revealed to Serbian journalists in Paris what the world's best tennis player's preparations are like for the upcoming match against Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam in Paris, that starts on Tuesday at 8:45 pm.

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"We had a nice training session, warming up today. There will be nervousness, there is always positive nervousness, but they played against each other 58 times, they know each other. I wouldn't say that anyone is a favorite in this match. Nadal said that he doesn't want to play in the evening, Nole (Novak) said that he does, but at the end of the day, what does that mean. If you don't play well, it doesn't matter when the match is played, whether it's five in the morning, at noon or at nine in the evening. Of course, we believe in victory, Novak is playing well, he is at the peak of his form, everything coincided exactly as it should have after Monte Carlo. More than this cannot be asked for, now the only question is how they will go out on the court and how they will play."

Have you worked on mental preparation?

"I don't have to tell him that he's better or not. He knows how good he is, what he is and he knows it well in his head that he is the best tennis player of all time to himself, to me, to all his fans, but we have to stand in front of a man who won the French Open many times. This is like coming to someone's house, their living room. You need to show respect, but not much. 'OK, well done done, Rafa, but let me beat you'."

They know each other very well, they played 58 times, is it possible to prepare at least one tactical surprise?

"There are always some new things, tactics. If this doesn't work, try something else. Of course, there always is. I watched the match from last year then ten times from the year before last, and I will watch it tonight, and tomorrow. Yesterday I watched almost the whole match against Felix. There always is, but Novak knows what to do, he is ready for it. If he wants to win, he must be ready to play 27 sets for 57 hours. He was ready for last year, not the year before last, the result was as it was. They are both ready. Although Nadal didn't want to play in the evening, it doesn't mean that he will not come out ready like never before."

If you could single out one or two things that are crucial, what would they be?

"In my opinion, Nole must start strong. Because if we look at the last two years, two years ago it was 6-0 inn the first set, last year 5-0 in two minutes, then 5-3, then 6-3. It's important how the match starts, he must start concentrating immediately, as little talk as possible, he must focus, spend as little energy as possible, let's say, not on nonsense, but on talking to me.

He needs to concentrate on himself, on what he needs to do from the start. You don't want to give Nadal a lot of room here and also, which I'm happy about, I think 80% of the audience will be against Novak, but it's better that way. I love when they are against him because then he has reason to get angry at someone and bite more."

How will you sleep tonight?

"I'll sleep peacefully. I sleep peacefully and well every night. It will be a long day tomorrow (Tuesday), the match starts only at around 9 in the evening, warm-up is not before 5:30 pm - 6 pm. Tomorrow we need to relax in the morning and at 5 pm we start thinking, there will be a little nervousness and trying to get into the match as relaxed as possible."

This has been presented as the match of the century, but again it's only the quarterfinals. What would you say about the younger generations and the players who will be waiting in the semifinals and the final?

"Today we saw a good match from young Rune, who is the future of tennis. I didn't expect him to bear Tsitsipas, but he surprised me and well done to him. In my opinion, Alcaraz is a step ahead of all of them, again the winner of Nole vs. Rafa will play against Alcaraz or Zverev, it will be very difficult. In my opinion, young people who are coming up are not at the level of Novak and Rafa, but we have a good future in tennis. When the three of them, Nole, Rafa and Roger retire, we have a good future and a good foundation for great tennis."

Where do you think Tsitsipas got stuck in this tournament and in Grand Slams in general?

"Somehow I have seen him very nervous since the beginning of this tournament, today, he made such mistakes. In the fourth set, it was 5-2, then it came to 5-4, he had three break points. It may be strange, but that match last year against Nole set him back. I know what it's like to have a Grand Slam in your hands and not win it. That's what happened to me in 1998 against Sampras at Wimbledon, and whether you like it or not, you start to lose self-confidence, you start to play differently, you get more and more nervous. And I watch him, he’s very nervous, he argues a lot with his mom and dad. It's not the same Tsitsipas from last year who was more focused, he knew what he was doing, he knew how to play. Honestly, I love him very much as a tennis player and I want him to make a comeback as soon as possible. I think he can do it," concluded Ivanisevic.

(Telegraf.rs)