Ljubicic on Roger Federer: "He wanted to come back at 100 percent"
Ivan Ljubicic on Roger Federer's last comeback attempt - and the surprise at the Australian Open 2017.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit:
Oct 15, 2022, 02:52 pm
"The problem was that after he came back in Doha last year, he was never at 100 percent. There wasn't a single tournament and not a single training session where everything was right," Ljubicic explained in an interview with Punto de Break .
Federer had celebrated his return after his two knee operations (in 2020) in Doha, also played in Geneva and Paris, then on grass, with different results. But it was obvious that Federer was not completely "the old man". "He won matches because he's Roger," said Ljubicic, but he was not in the condition to go all the way to tournament wins, which was difficult for him to process - as well as playing in Halle or Wimbledon at all , without being completely up to speed. "Roland Garros, he toyed with the idea of putting in the hours there and hoping that playing more would make him feel better. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case."
In the end, after another operation in late summer 2021, so much progress was made this year into the summer to aim for another comeback. But ultimately the goal for Federer was to win tournaments. "Continuing didn't mean winning a match for him. He wouldn't have come back to play a first or second round."
In the end, therefore, the decision to resign because progress had not continued. "He wanted to come back to give 100 percent. Going back to what he was in 2021 was not an option for him." Ultimately, the knee could no longer withstand the strain of playing five sets - and doing it again the next day. "It's that simple. It wasn't about a specific movement."
Federer at Australian Open 2017: "Very difficult to beat that Roger"
Ljubicic took over as Federer's coach at the end of 2015, after a dinner together, Federer asked him if he wanted to join him - a clear thing for the Croatian. However, 2016 got off to a bad start, with Federer's injury and the long break following the 2016 Wimbledon tournament.
Of course, Ljubicic also looked back on the first big comeback, back in Australia in 2017. Federer arrived in Perth with back problems and didn't train for a few days - which wasn't a problem after the many units before. However, not everything went so smoothly. But then he played his way into the Australian Open, "and we thought it would be very difficult to beat this Roger."
Before the final against Rafael Nadal, Ljubicuc dug up an old video of Fernando Gonzalez when he had clearly beaten Nadal, "I took some ideas from this and other games with me."
Ljubicic also cleared up a small misunderstanding - Federer allegedly "new" backhand. "He didn't change the shot. Just the way he used it," said Ljubicic. That worked, the self-confidence had increased and thus in turn the quality of the shot.