Ivan Ljubicic, coach of Roger Federer has showered praise on Roger Federer’s intelligence and his mental abilities are something that makes him stand out from rest of the crowd. Ivan Ljubicic was himself a professional player, ranked as high as world number three.
He faced Roger Federer on 16 occasions, winning just three of those encounters. Since 2016, Ivan Ljubicic has been on charge of Roger Federer’s coaching duties and under his guidance, the Swiss has won three Grandslam titles and four Masters titles.
On a recent podcast, he spoke about Federer’s genius brain that has helped him build his legacy over the years.
“On the court, he’s intelligent, and off the court, he is intelligent,” Ljubicic said. “I think his brain is great, it’s just underrated.
I mean, he is a genius on the court and off the court, that’s what makes him the greatest, in my opinion. You know, we don’t know how many Slams or weeks at number one are these that I mean how you know how these careers gonna look like at the end of his career, but you know, his legacy goes way beyond,” he said.
Playing against Federer 16 times has helped me know him better as a player: Ljubicic
The Croatian also answered a few questions which were asked by tennis fans. One of the questions was whether playing against Roger Federer has helped Ljubicic understand the Swiss better, to which the Croatian answered in the affirmative. Ljubicic retired from playing tennis in 2012, just four years before he started coaching Federer.
“I played against Roger 16 times so I think yeah, I think definitely he the player I played the most against,” 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,” he said.
“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 Croatian concluded.
