Arthur Fils adds "hell of a champion" Goran Ivanisevic to coaching team for trial run

Arthur Fils has added a "hell of a champion" to his coaching team as his comeback from a major back injury heats up.

The Frenchman's high-profile addition to his entourage at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open this week comes in the form of former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, who he's added to his team on a trial basis this season.

After missing seven months of action following Roland Garros last season, owing to the exacerbation of a back problem he's had since his youth, the former world No. 14 returned to the tour earlier this month in Montpellier, where he reached the quarterfinals.

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He's gone one better this week in Doha with an upset of No. 8 seed Jiri Lehecka, and will face No. 6 seed Jakub Mensik in the final four for his first final appearance since he lifted the trophy in Tokyo in October of 2024. Mensik upset world No. 2 Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals.

Ivanisevic will hope for a longer stint with Fils in 2026 than either of the two charges he worked with last season: Elena Rybakina and Stefanos Tsitsipas. After splitting with longtime pupil Novak Djokovic after six years, Ivanisevic joined Rybakina's team on a trial basis near the end of the 2024 season, but the pair split by the time the 2025 Australian Open concluded after she reinstated the controversial Stefano Vukov, who was, in that time, suspended by the WTA during a Code of Conduct investigation.

Later in the year, he joined up with Tsitsipas after Roland Garros, but the two parted ways by Wimbledon, with the Croat insisting there was no "bad blood" between them despite having critiqued the Greek's fitness to the media.

Read more: "He needs to sort things out": Goran Ivanisevic gets candid after Stefanos Tsitsipas split

This week, Fils has praised the Croat for both his playing and coaching pedigree.

“I think it’s good for me, maybe it’s best for me, to have his experience as a coach, and a player," Fils said this week after defeating fellow Frenchman Quentin Halys. "So I’m very glad that he’s going to join us, during this long journey."