Roger Federer hasn’t hired Ivan Ljubicic just to beat Novak Djokovic in Grand Slam finals. That is now officially clear, if someone had doubts about that. Already when in London, after losing the last match of the year to the Serb in the ATP Finals, Roger had made it clear how his plans in 2016 didn’t include a specific strategy on how to beat the World No.1. Whilst Rafael Nadal in the years proved to be a challenge that required further adjustments in the Swiss’ game to prevail, Novak and his tennis don’t need a different version of Federer to win. The Swiss believes his best tennis can still be enough to have the best player in the world on the losing side.
Federer has lost both the Wimbledon and the US Open final to Djokovic in 2015, a season in which the Serb has managed to reach all Grand Slam finals in the year, finishing one match shy of completing a historical calendar Grand Slam.
Speaking to BBC in the offseason, Roger spoke about the Rio Olympics and his choice to hire Ljubicic to replace Stefan Edberg as his full time coach.
“I think my best chance was in 2004,” said the Swiss to the BBC “I had won 3 Grand Slams and I was world No.1 and the first seed in the tournament”.
All hopes are lost then? Not necessarily…
“I have definitively an outside chance, I have to make sure my game is at the top when the Olympics arrive” revealed the 17-time Grand Slam champion.
Speaking of his decision to hire Ivan Ljubicic, the Swiss wanted to remark the fact that Novak Djokovic was clearly not in his mind when appointing the Croat.
“I think a lot of people read into the thing that it’s all about Djokovic, but that’s completely wrong” clarified Roger.
Just like said in London then, nothing has changed since Roger lost his match of the year on November 22 at the O2 Arena. After all, the Swiss beat the Serb three times in 2015. Maybe his game can indeed be enough to bend the Serb. What about a best-of-five-set match? To face a living wall for 4 hours can be a mission impossible at 34 years of age at the highest level of the sport. The ability to continuously play at your best the whole time on the biggest stages of tennis can’t be taught by any coach, just relies in Federer’s body and arm. If he feels he still has it, then it would be hard to contradict his own feelings…
