Stefanos Tsitsipas has revealed he believes his serve can improve by “10 to 15 percent better” as he expressed excitement about learning from coach Goran Ivanisevic.
Ivanisevic, who won Wimbledon in 2001 and was also a three-time runner-up at the All England Club, is considered one of the greatest servers in tennis history.
The Croatian helped big-serving compatriot Marin Cilic reach his peak and guided him to his only Grand Slam title at the 2014 US Open.
The former world No 2 has also been credited with helping Novak Djokovic turn his serve into a significant weapon during his hugely successful five-year collaboration with the great Serb.
Tsitsipas, a former world No 3 currently ranked 26th, hired Ivanisevic as his new coach at the start of the grass-court season
After losing the first two sets of his opening round match at Wimbledon to Valentin Royer, Tsitsipas was forced to retire due to a back injury.
At the Giorgio Armani Classic at Hurlingham, Tennis365 asked Tsitsipas if Ivanisevic was looking to tweak his service motion and ball toss as he did with players like Cilic and Djokovic.
“Yeah, we’ve been discussing,” Tsitsipas said. “We’ve had hours and hours of discussion about this. Yeah, absolutely. This is something that’s important. I think my serve can improve and get even better of what it is now.
“We are talking all kinds of scenarios. We are trying to get into the fundamentals of a serve, the technical aspects of a serve, what creates a good serve and what doesn’t create a good serve, and the things that I need to avoid.
“Obviously, it’s quite obvious that one of the things that I’ve been dealing with in the last couple of years is my consistency in my toss, and I’m aware of that and I’m always trying to fix that, even before Goran step in. But this is definitely something that I’m gonna try and focus on even more.
“I feel like my serve deserves 10 to 15 percent better of what it is at its current state. So, I’m currently working with one of the best servers that tennis has ever seen. And if he can’t help me, probably no one can help me.
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“So I’m just excited for the opportunity to learn as much as I can from him and learn what makes a great server.”
Tsitsipas also addressed whether there is a pressure that comes with being coached by someone who has worked with Djokovic.
“I think the best thing that Goran has kind of stated and made clear is that he’s not coaching Novak Djokovic right now, and we are kind of starting from scratch,” said the 26-year-old Greek.
“He’s coaching me in a way as if I just started playing tennis, which is a great thing because it’s very down-to-earth, and a very humbling experience as a player to get to experience that.
“We have obviously big goals and aspirations and we want to achieve great things together, but we are kind of building from zero. That’s how it feels like.
“He appreciates me and respects me as a player, and I can see that in his eyes and the way he talks to me. But also, what’s humbling about it is that we have both this mutual respect about each other and we know that we are here on this journey to build and start from scratch.
“There are no expectations, obviously he doesn’t expect me to — I imagine — from tomorrow, to start winning Grand Slams, one after the other, like Novak did for, I don’t know, six years of his career on the tour with him.
“Let’s just put it this way, every small success that I manage to achieve with him, it doesn’t have to be a huge success, every small success is a huge success, which, if replicated multiple times, starts becoming the standard, if that makes sense.”
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The post ‘If Goran Ivanisevic can’t help me, probably no one can’ – Stefanos Tsitsipas on key area of his game appeared first on Tennis365.
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