It Didn’t Take Long for the Desert to Get Really Old, Says Ivanisevic

Goran Ivanisevic isn’t coming back to the Coachella Valley, possibly for a long time. Just chalk it up to a severe fun shortage.

“I don’t like here,” said Ivanisevic, 20, of Croatia. “I don’t like . . . so I don’t come. Everything is too slow, too easy. I am getting sleepy right now. I am going to bed at 9 and waking up at 7, like old man.

“It is a great place . . . like paradise, but a lot of old people here. It is OK for holiday, but not for tennis. I like this country, I don’t like this place. The air is dead here.”

Ivanisevic said the Palm Springs area pales in comparison to the cities of Europe or even Miami, where nighttime pursuits more closely match his interests.

Basically, Ivanisevic said the Palm Springs area is a great place to be as long as you are a cactus. In his free time during the Newsweek Champions Cup, Ivanisevic was reduced to going to movies and eating out. He found both activities pretty boring.

“I try restaurants,” Ivanisevic said. “You see two young people. Everybody else is 100 years old . . . 150. Every time I think somebody is going to die in restaurant.”

After losing to Richard Krajicek in the second round, Ivanisevic said he would pack his bags and get out of town.

But first, Ivanisevic said he is going to give the desert one more chance.

“I try golf.”