Rafael Nadal’s retirement: Ivan Ljubicic: ‘I’m surprised he stopped at this time’

Roger Federer’s former coach Ivan Ljubicic has expressed his surprise at the announcement of Rafael Nadal’s retirement at the end of the season.

Last Thursday, the Spaniard Rafael Nadal announced that he would end his professional tennis career next month. The winner of 22 Grand Slam titles, including 14 Roland-Garros, has in fact made it known on his social networks that he will definitively end his career at the end of this season.

Ivan Ljubicic, who faced Nadal nine times during his playing career (winning two of those matches), was surprised by the decision. “I’m surprised to see him stop at this point. I thought Roland-Garros would be the ideal time, the most logical place to retire,” said the 45-year-old Croatian. He added that he obviously didn’t know how Nadal felt or what motivated his choice.

A different start from that of Federer

And Ljubicic continued: “I don’t believe that a player of this level – I saw it with Federer – retires because he no longer wants to play tennis. He probably does this because he feels he is no longer able to perform at a level that is acceptable to him. If the future is uncertain, continuing with this feeling can be difficult. It then makes sense to make such a decision.”

From January 2016 until the end of Federer’s career in September 2022, Ljubicic accompanied the Swiss as coach. “I’ve always said that deciding to stop is one of the hardest things,” he said. “But the question remains how we do it.” He continued: “Roger and I have often discussed this situation. There comes a time when you no longer have a choice. Roger was no longer able to play competitively and had to retire.”

The Croatian hopes that the retirement of the bull of Manacor will be different from that of Federer: “For Rafa, I hope that he can play his last match in Spain, in front of his audience. It would be magnificent.”

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