Ivan Ljubicic: 'Roger Federer had to spend thousands of hours on practice court to..'

Roger Federer struggled with the left knee injury in 2016, undergoing surgery in February and entering only seven tournaments that year. The Swiss star skipped the post-Wimbledon action to rest his knee and start all over in 2017. Ivan Ljubicic became Roger's coach in 2016, waiting patiently for his player to return and preparing the most beneficial tactic after such a long break. In one of the most impressive comebacks that our sport has ever seen, Federer won 54 out of 59 matches and claimed seven ATP titles, including his first Majors since 2012 at the Australian Open and Wimbledon! After four ATP titles in 2018, Roger added the same number in the season behind us, becoming the second player with 100 ATP trophies in the Open era after Jimmy Connors when he conquered Dubai. Federer squandered two match points against Novak Djokovic in the final at Wimbledon and finished the year-end rankings third behind two main rivals at 38.

Things didn't work that well for Roger in 2020, experiencing the shortest season of his career and missing all the action after January. Struggling with a groin injury, Federer saved seven match points against Tennys Sandgren in the Australian Open quarter-final, standing powerless against Novak Djokovic in the semis after a solid start, in his last official match of the year. After the record-breaking Cape Town encounter with Rafael Nadal that gathered the crowd of over 50,000, Federer underwent knee surgery in February, planning to return in June for Halle and Wimbledon. The coronavirus halted the season between March and August, and Roger wasn't ready for the restart, struggling to take the pain away and undergoing the second surgery in May.

Ivan Ljubicic spoke about Roger Federer's skills and abilities.

The Swiss decided to wrap up the year and focus on 2021, making the first steps in the gym since the summer and hitting the practice court in October. Roger's coach Ivan Ljubicic will work with him in Dubai in the following weeks, hoping to get ready for the Australian Open in February. Ljubicic went to Switzerland a couple of times once Roger started training again, praising the Swiss' abilities to quickly find his best strokes even after such a long break. Still, Ljubicic highlighted that the natural gift couldn't do the job alone, reminding us how Roger had to spend many hours on the practice court to achieve those skills. 

"Tennis itself has never been a problem. Even when he doesn't play for weeks, Roger can find his best shots in no time; it's incredible. It may seem like a natural gift from the outside, but it is not something that comes out of nowhere: to achieve that fluency, you have to spend thousands of hours on the practice court. It all came after putting much effort, both on and off the court," Ivan Ljubicic said. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Wr1yqh