Ivan Ljubicic still has faith in friend, Roger Federer
Croatian tennis player Ivan Ljubicic has said that he is confident that Swiss man Roger Federer still has what it takes to work his way up to the World number one spot.
The tennis superstar has 16-grand slam titles in his career, and held the the No.1 rank, for a consecutive 237 weeks. He is currently ranked World No.2 behind Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Federer recently faced defeat at the hands of Serb Novak Djokovic at the 2011
Australian Open.
However; Ljubicic believes that the Swiss Maestro is still a class apart in comparison to most of his fellow players.
“Roger can still win Slams. If he wins one this year and a Masters 1000 or two, he will be firmly in the top two or three in the world. He won't disappear or fade away. It is just natural for a Federer or (Rafael) Nadal to be focused; they don't have to work
at it or spend any time worrying about it,” said Ljubicic.
The Croatian went on to state that he believes that it is tough to win even a single point against the current leading pair Federer-Nadal. He heaped praise on the two players, comparing them to tennis greats Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras.
"They are able to concentrate day in and day out and give their absolute best on court. I felt that (Pete) Sampras or (Andre) Agassi would have two or three matches a year when they just didn't play well at all. But that doesn't happen with Federer and Nadal,”
he said.
Ljubicic also stated that Nole now needs to prove himself after bagging his second Australian Open Men's singles title. He termed Djokovic ‘the man to beat’ and predicts that if he defeats Federer five times a year then he can also become World number one.
Ljubicic recently made it through to the semifinals of the 2011 ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament after defeating Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 6-7 and 7-6. The Croatian will face Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-final of the tournament.
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