Djokovic told close figure is ‘a bigger opponent’ to him than Nadal

With a crying-laughing emoji, Petkovic then concluded: “Also: Sometimes his biggest opponent seems to be… Goran.” It comes after Djokovic himself joked about the way he sometimes vented to his coach during his matches in Melbourne, telling his team that he appreciated their patience when they tolerated “sometimes the worst sides of [his] character” before calling out Ivanisevic for laughing.

The world No 1 was also later asked about the chattering between himself and Ivanisevic during the final as he admitted he wouldn’t be as calm as the 2001 Wimbledon champion if he had a player venting towards him. “No, it was Goran and other members of my team. Just a normal chatter that we would normally have in the court where I was not comfortable and was looking for some help and some advices, some guidance. That’s all it is,” he explained.

“Obviously on the court, difficult to explain to people that have not been in these situations what you go through. So of course I know that, as I said on the ceremony, they tolerate a lot of things that I do to them, say to them, and I’m really grateful to have their presence and their support, just the way they are. If I’m in the box, and a guy is doing that to me, I’ll probably act differently.”