'Roger Federer is the player I played the most against', says former ATP ace

Ivan Ljubicic retired in 2012, just four years before starting to collaborate with his friend Roger Federer. The partnership between the Croatian and the Swiss began in 2016, a season affected by the knee injury of the 20-time Grand Slam champion. Under the leadership of the former ATP number 3, the Swiss phenomenon won the beauty of three Grand Slams and four Masters 1000. The 39-year-old from Basel also came close to ninth title at Wimbledon in 2019, but had to surrender to Novak Djokovic after wasted a couple of match points in the fifth set. King Roger, who has decided to miss the Australian Open for the first time in the last 23 editions, could make his return to the field in Rotterdam or Dubai in March. The Swiss legend aims to reach 100% at Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics, postponed by twelve months due to the global pandemic. During Allistair McCaw's 'What It Takes' podcast, Ljubicic revealed that playing against Federer helped him become a good coach.

Ljubicic talks about Roger Federer

"I played against Roger Federer 16 times so I think yeah, I think definitely he the player I played the most against," Ivan Ljubicic said. "This is the best way to understand about the player you know. Watching from the side it gives you the least amount of information and watching from behind the court gives you a lot. Watching from within court, inside court gives you even more so, but playing against the player it gives you the most. When I started to coach Roger six years ago, on tour, there were a lot of players I mean majority of the players that were still the ones that I played against," he added. "So that also helped me you know, in the coaching that you know that I know how these guys are on the court." The coach definitely tried to bring in the fact that the more one plays against other players, the better he’ll be able to work on his game. He clearly tried to link this with his own case and reiterated the importance of playing and practicing more and more. Ivan Ljubicic has been coaching Roger Federer for six years now. His next big aim will surely be to win another Grand Slam title with him, especially when the Swiss Maestro is returning after a year. Will Ljubicic lead Federer to another Grand Slam glory in 2021?

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/39M1ub3