Ana Ivanovic says she changed coaches with the goal of getting higher in the rankings.
"It’s never easy, changing," she told *Tennis View*, talking about her recent decision to stop working with Nemanja Kontic despite winning three titles this season.
"It was a few different things — on and off the court."
Ivanovic acknowledged Kontic's effect on her performances, but said she wanted someone to help her keep moving upwards. The former No. 1 returns to the Top 10 on Monday for the first time since 2009, and is now aiming higher.
"He helped my game a lot and was very knowledgeable about tennis,” she said of Kontic. “We had a good time. I appreciate that he managed to sort of turn around a little bit my mindset toward the game. I did improve. But sometimes when you want to get higher you need to make those decisions.”
Ivanovic is now working with another Serbian coach, Dejan Petrovic, who she described as contributing a "little bit of a different atmosphere to the team."
She emphasized that she was looking for someone who would concentrate on her mindset rather than her strokes.
"We’re at the stage where we don’t change our technique much, so you really want to have good communication with the person," she said.
"You want someone who’s going to be there to support you no matter what, someone who’s going to help you with little things here and there, to make you motivated, to make you hungry for success. I really want to get higher in the rankings, and I want someone who can push me in that direction. I definitely look for someone in that manner rather than someone who’s going to be technical."
Ivanovic, playing her first event with her new coach, took Serena Williams to three sets in the Stanford quarterfinals.