Federer’s former coach reveals one of the secrets behind the 2017 Australian Open title: ‘I showed him a match of Fernando González against Nadal’

Ivan Ljubičić is one of the people who knows Roger Federer best. He took him on as a pupil in 2016 and together they had one of the greatest moments in the Swiss’s career. Under the orders of the Croatian, he won his last three Grand Slam tournaments, became world number one again at 36 and came close to a ninth Wimbledon losing the final against Djokovic. Moreover, he was the one who accompanied him during the rebellious injury that ended up taking him out.

Of all this and more, Ljubičić spoke with the Spanish media “breaking point ”. The long interview, yes, there was also a character that wasn’t in the script: Fernando González.

And it is that the former coach of Federer confessed that the Chilean played a key role in obtaining the Australian Open 2017, since he took some videos of the native of La Reina so that the Swiss knows how to attack Rafael Nadal. “To study the final against Nadal, I showed him a match between Fernando González and Rafa, I can’t remember the year, but it was at the Australian Open. There Fernando destroyed Rafa and I got some ideas from that match and others “, he launched.

That match he is referring to was the quarter-finals of the 2007 Australian Open, when the Chilean beat the Spaniard by 6-2, 6-4 and 6-3 in just two hours and seven minutes of play . This edition, González would reach the final, precisely losing to “Rog”.

The 2017 victory, according to his strategist, boosted Federer’s game at the time. “I think after that Australian Open he started to feel more confident. He played very well in Indian Wells and Miami against Rafa, taking the ball early, hitting flat and attacking Nadal’s forehand a bit more than in the past. Lots of things Rafa maybe didn’t expect Added the Croatian and former world three.

But in conversation, he didn’t just stay in the great achievement signed in Melbourne. The 2010 Indian Wells winner also thought back to the toughest years of Federer’s injury, when the knee injury only left him playing six tournaments in two years. “We had in mind a certain progress, which was necessary to continue. For him, continuing meant winning tournaments. Continuing did not mean winning a game for him. I wouldn’t have gone back to playing 1R and 2R, 1R and 2R. He wanted to come back 100%. Coming back as he was in 2021 was not an option for him “, acknowledged his former coach.

Finally he addressed the last days as a professional of his manager, admitting that he even doubted that he could play doubles with Nadal in the Laver Cup.The knee could not bear the load. I couldn’t stand what it was like to play five sets and come back the next day and play more. It was not a particular movement. It’s like driving a car and there comes a time when you go a certain number of miles and it’s not working anymore. ”.