Ivan Ljubicic: 'Roger wanted to play tennis until he was 100 - it was the only possible end'
Ivan Ljubicic has been responsible for Roger Federer since the 2016 season - now he spoke about the maestro's mindset and how he dealt with the Wimbledon defeat in 2019.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Sep 23, 2022, 04:19 pm
Ivan Ljubicic's tenure as Roger Federer's coach was a very successful one: three Grand Slam titles were celebrated together, in 2017 at the Australian Open and in Wimbledon, and again in Melbourne in 2018. It all started badly, with Federer's knee injury at the beginning of the 2016 season.
At that time, however, training started very quickly after Wimbledon and Federer's cancellation for the rest of the season, "five months of quality work, which led to a wonderful year and a half for him". No wonder, of course, but it is difficult in regular tour operations to just train for a few months without playing tournaments, Ljubicic said in an interview with tennismajors.com .
Of course, he still knew Federer from their times as a professional, they talked again and again before they started working together. Federer knew what to expect from him, how he saw tennis and how he was as a person.
Always pull through against Nadal!
Interesting: Ljubicic was of the opinion that Federer spent too much time on the net during the times with Stefan Edberg (2014, 2015)! And don't slice too much - the slice might put you in a good position, but if you slice more often, you'll be more running, more defensive. "And it depends on the opponent: you should always slice against Mannarino, never against Nadal." In general, he was of the opinion that "Roger is at his best when he is on the baseline and plays aggressively."
At this high level, it's still not about how to hit a backhand (like a junior player might be) but more about spending time together and changing the player's mindset a bit. Too often he hears from commentators which player has changed what after spending a month with a new coach. But it's not that simple. "I could never say in my life what Goran and Novak are working on, or Carlos and Rafa. "You might have problems explaining that yourself." It is important to have a lot of trust.
Example: the 2017 Australian Open final against Nadal. They talked about it for hours, "but as a coach you don't know which of the hundred pieces of information will stick and which will prove useful in the match". Here it was that Federer accepted that he had to tackle Nadal's forehand more, play the backhand flatter and concentrate on the ball, not the opponent. In the fourth round he was a little worried, but in the fifth set, even at 1: 3, he was calmer because Federer had played correctly "and I knew he had a chance. In the end he won."
Wimbledon defeat 2019: "Fake it 'til you make it" to put you in a good mood
The lost Wimbledon final in 2019 against Djokovic was difficult, of course, after two match balls were awarded. In the end you tried to celebrate the finale yourself - called a few friends, put on some music - "a little 'fake it' 'til you make it', in the end it was a great atmosphere," said Ljubo. It wasn't a tragedy of epic proportions, just a shame because Federer played so well. And at the time, people believed in further opportunities. "In any other sport it would have been a draw."
Ljubicic also clarified one thing about this, because it was recently reported that he had claimed that Federer had already been hit here and was only at 60 or 70 percent. He was misquoted, referring to Wimbledon 2021. In 2019 Federer was "at one million percent"!
In addition, one reflected on how many matches Federer had won that he should have lost - such as the game against Tommy Haas in 2009. In the end, Federer not only won the match, but also for the only time in Paris.
The fact that the time has now come to resign and that Federer has to leave half injured - not ideal. "But considering Roger wanted to play until he was 100, it was the only option. There was no chance he would ever have stopped of his own volition."