Former World No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic, who is now the coach of Roger Federer, says the Swiss superstar is recovering from his knee surgery and has not hinted about any plans of retirement to him just yet. Speaking to Sky Sports, the Croatian says, “Roger is recovering, he is doing rehabilitation after the surgery.
For us it doesn’t change much, with everything the bad luck that we had with this situation, the program is the same even if there was no virus. We have not yet talked about 2021. Time certainly does not stop and he will be 40 next year, but he has not yet hinted to me about a possible retirement.”
Federer had undergone knee surgery in late February and had planned to miss all the tournaments till the grass court season prior to the tennis tour shutting down. Ljubicic says that things will need to be seen when the tour resumes about how the players would return.
“The governments of the various countries will tell us when we will be able to travel around the world again. Probably those with more experience will be able to better manage the return to the field, but in reality we do not know what will happen.
The players like playing continuously and the results in Australia, often with many surprises after a month of stop, prove it every year ” Speaking about the proposal of Federer on the merger of the ATP & WTA Tours, Ljubicic says, “I would like to see a single body that leads tennis.
A product put together can have a value that is more than double the current one. We also think of television networks which could buy the rights for all the men’s and women’s Slams and Masters. At that point it would be very interesting and also the value would be greater than in single tournaments.
The idea is certainly good, even if to achieve it there will still be a long way to go.” Ljubicic has been working with Federer since the 2016 season.
Elina Svitolina and Feliciano Lopez Agree on Roger Federer’s proposal
World No. 5 Elina Svitolina and Spain’s Feliciano Lopez agree that it is the right time to merge the ATP & WTA Tours, as suggested by Swiss superstar Roger Federer on his social media account last week. The pair were speaking on the Tennis Legend’s Vodcast show with hosts Boris Becker and Mats Wilander.
The Ukrainian player commented, “We are getting updates pretty much every other day: we have meetings, like tomorrow, we have a big meeting – and for sure, as you mentioned earlier, we will talk about what Roger [Federer] and Rafa [Nadal] proposed, to join [Tours].
I think this is the right thing to do for both and it’s the right time to do it, because in this difficult time it’s really tough to predict, and there are a lot of talks going on, about the tournaments, the cancellations.
I think a lot of it will depend on the countries, and it’s very tough to predict what is going to happen. But, I think, in the tennis world everyone should just unite and that’s my opinion”. Lopez, who is also a Tournament Director at the Madrid Masters this week, commented, “Well, I think there is a lot going on at the moment.
So far we are waiting for the US Open to make an announcement and, as you know, the French Open is supposed to be played in September. I think it is true that this is the moment to unite forces, I agree, and to have everyone together.
I think this is our main goal right now in tennis. Spekaing about the return of the tennis circuit, which is currently suspended till mid-July at least, Lopez says everyone needs to be patient. “Right now, we are waiting.
The situation is really different, because right now we cannot make any plans. It’s day-by-day, and we have to be really patient. There is nothing we can do; we have to wait. I am not very positive to be honest, I told Boris [Becker] that we need the world to be open until this is happening. I don’t see the Tour resuming.”
