According to Carrie Dunn of tennismajors.com, Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia has been appointed by the French Tennis Federation (FFT) as the new director of Ambition 2024. The goal for the FFT is to help develop a “winning culture” in the French tennis system in time for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. This will be the third time that tennis will be part of the Olympic program when Paris has hosted the Olympic Games. Paris also hosted the 1900 Olympic Games and the 1924 Olympic Games. It should be noted that tennis was not considered a full Olympic sport for 60 years–from 1928 to 1968.
Ljubicic was an ATP player from 1998 to 2012. He won 10 ATP tournaments in his career. The most significant title came in Indian Wells in 2010 when Ljubicic beat Andy Roddick of the United States. At the grand slam level, the furthest Ljubicic reached was the semifinal of the 2006 French Open. That year, he lost to Rafael Nadal of Spain in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6.
After playing tennis, Ljubicic went on to coach tennis stars Milos Raonic of Canada and Roger Federer of Switzerland. While coaching Federer, Ljubicic won three grand slam titles. He won the 2017 Australian Open, 2017 Wimbledon, and 2018 Australian Open. At the 2017 Australian Open, Federer beat Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. At the 2017 Wimbledon Final, Federer beat Marin Cilic (who like Ljubicic is from Croatia), 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. At the 2018 Australian Open Final, Federer beat Cilic 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
This will be Ljubicic’s most significant position in world professional tennis since Federer retired earlier this year. The struggles in French tennis were documented on our website back in October.
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