He was Roger Federer’s coach in the last years of the great Swiss champion’s career, and recently spoke about his first meeting on the tennis courts with Novak Djokovic. It’s about Ivan Ljubicic, a Croatian who represents a section that Nola has lacked in the past.

Ivan Ljubicic and Djokovic’s bad technique: “I never thought he would become the most successful player in the world”

In an intervention for the Swiss press, which was transmitted to We love tennis, Ljubicic speaks with subject and predicate about Novak Djokovic.

Horvath says he first met Nole at the Riccardo Piatti academy, where he trained with the Serb.

“When he was a junior, he came to the Academy with Riccardo Piatti (not a reputable Italian coach), where I was also. We trained together for months. Of course, it was obvious that he had talent. It was mobile and very agile, but technically modest.

His backhand was good, his forehand was problematic with strong grip, and his serve still had a lot of room for improvement. Then I would not have thought that he would become the most successful player in the world.” – Ivan Lyubichych.

At the age of 44, Ivan managed to reach the highest ATP ranking of 3 (May 1, 2006) during his playing career, and his best Grand Slam results were: the semifinals of Roland Garros (2006) and the quarterfinals of the Australian Open (also in same year).

On the coaching side, Ljubicic helped Federer win the Australian Open twice and Wimbledon once. Additionally, with the Croatian in his Mister Perfect box, he added 4 Masters titles to his resume.

Since the Ljubicic story, Djokovic has steadily improved his game, holding records for, among other things, weeks spent at No. 1 in the ATP ranking (389), Grand Slam titles (23) and Masters tournaments (38).