Mouratoglou criticizes Ivanisevic: "You can't throw your player to the lions, that's not coaching"

A week ago, when we read the harsh statements made by Goran Ivanisevic about his new player, Stefanos Tsitsipas, we all looked at each other and thought: Is this serious? Did he really say this? It's not usual to launch such harsh criticisms towards the person who pays you, especially when the bond has just begun. But the Croatian crossed that line, bracing himself for possible responses. One who hasn't held back is Patrick Mouratoglou, current coach of Naomi Osaka, writing a few lines on his social media that our Tennis Majors colleagues have picked up and that we at Punto de Break wanted to echo. Don't miss it.

"The truth is that coaching is not about this; it has nothing to do with what Goran Ivanisevic suggested by making and saying all these things in an interview about his new player, Stefanos Tsitsipas. There is no need to feed the trolls with all those comments. He said that Stef hasn't done anything right, that he had to change all his habits, but if Goran accepts to work with Stefanos, it's probably because he already knows that he's not doing things the right way, so they need to be changed.

Stef is currently going through a tough period; it has been a while since he's had the same results as before, but this is the reality, and there's no choice but to accept it. When I started working with Serena Williams or Naomi Osaka, they were also in a bad moment. Goran also knew that Stefanos was struggling at the moment, pointing fingers at him is not helpful. And above all: that's not coaching.

Coaching is not playing, never. In fact, it's the opposite. Coaching is about understanding a person's behaviors, trying to help them while being with them, both in the same boat. Judging is not the same as operating, but doing it publicly is even worse. What makes me feel is that Goran is ashamed of the results, wanting to distance himself from Stefanos, like, 'This has nothing to do with me, it's not about me, I'm fine. It's all his fault'.

That's not coaching, honestly. That's the opposite of what coaching should be. You can talk about your player publicly, but not by throwing him to the wolves; most conversations of that nature should happen behind the scenes. I don't have all the details either, but from what I've seen, I would be surprised if they could work together correctly. You need to build trust from the start, but this is not the way to build trust with your player.

Stefanos doesn't do everything right? Probably, but surely he doesn't do everything wrong either. Nobody does everything wrong. Stef has been a professional player for many years; he knows perfectly well what all this is about. Simply put, he's going through a rough patch, a difficult moment that can lead to incorrect behaviors. As a coach, what you need to do is bring back those good behaviors, but always with the player, there is no other way."

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Mouratoglou carga contra Ivanisevic: “No puedes tirar a tu jugador a los leones, eso no es entrenar”