One of Roger Federer’s main coaches has said it is ‘incredible’ that he is still able to maintain his momentum despite not playing a competitive match for almost a year.
Ivan Ljubicic, who started to work with the 39-year-old in December 2015, believes there is plenty to be optimistic about for Federer in the coming months. Due to injury the world No.5 hasn’t played a match on the ATP Tour since his semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open in January. Since then, he has undergone two surgical procedures on his right knee. Making 2020 the first season where he has only been able to play one tournament.
Despite the setbacks, Ljubicic has praised the 20-time Grand Slam champion for his dedication to the sport. This week the team has travelled to Dubai to continue their off-season training. However, Federer admitted on Sunday that he faces a race against time to be ready for the Australian Open even if the event is delayed until February.
“Even when he is weeks without playing, the ease he has in finding the sensations is incredible,”Ljubicic told Tennis Magazine Italia. “From the outside it may seem a natural gift, but it is not something that comes from nowhere: it is the thousands and thousands of hours of repetition, which have built this apparent fluency.”
The question is how much longer will Federer continue playing? Speculation over his possible retirement mounted over the weekend when he was named the greatest athlete of the past 70 years at the Swiss Sports Awards. During his acceptance speech, he said ‘“I hope that in 2021 I will return to the courts. We will see. But if my career had to end here, well it would be incredible to end it with this award.”
It is unclear as to how much should be read into the comment. Although Federer’s mentor doesn’t appear to be too concerned as he labelled Wimbledon as their main target in 2021. Federer has won the grass-court major a record eight times so far in his career.
“He wants to play forever!,” Ljubicic jokes. “The first objective is obvious, to prepare for the first commitments of 2021, when we can play. Then we’ll see: I could say Wimbledon but it’s obvious, that’s always the first target for him. We will discuss programming when there is enough news: it is difficult to do it now, without fixed points.”
The relationship between the two goes further than their player-coach relationship. Ljubicic, who achieved a ranking high of third during his professional career, revealed that he considered retiring from the sport in 2011. Although he decided to play for another year after being persuaded by Federer. The two played against each other 16 times on the ATP Tour with the Croat winning just three of their clashes.
Ljubicic already has a plan in place for what he will do when Federer retires. He is the founder of the LJ Sports Group, whose clients include Daria Kasatkina and Matteo Berrettini. His plan is to concentrate fully on the agency. As for Federer and even his rival Rival Nadal, Ljubicic believes the duo will remain involved in the sport in some way for years to come.
“They are both in love with tennis. When they stop playing, Roger and Rafa will not disappear. There are other number ones that, once stopped, no one has seen them again. Roger and Rafa no, they will stay,” he assured.
“Nadal already has his own academy. Roger has his agency, and then he created the Laver Cup… After that I don’t know, I can’t know how things will go. In my opinion, they won’t be doing one thing full time.”
Federer has won 103 ATP titles and spent 310 weeks as world No.1 during his career. He has also earned more than $129 million in prize money which is the second-highest tally of all-time after Djokovic.
