Rafa Nadal won 14 times Roland-Garros. A brand that will be almost impossible to beat. And his rivals shared what they felt playing against him on Parisian soil. Ivan LjubičićCroatian tennis player and former coach of Roger Federerwas the most energetic.
“Playing against Rafa at Philippe Chatrier is difficult, it’s a traumatic experience”he said on ‘Eurosport’.
When asked if he could compare it to facing Roger at Wimbledon, the Croatian replied: “I’ve never played against Roger at Wimbledon, but I faced him several times and it was complicated because he had all the solutions. Rafa’s tennis is tactically quite simple, but impossible to manage with his particular lift…”.
“Roger proposed different solutions each timeand for me, tactically, it was very difficult to match him,” admits the man who would later become his coach.
On Rafa Nadal’s retirement from tennis (it will be after Davis Cup), Ljubicic was very surprised: “I was surprised when he announced his retirement. Obviously I can understand why, that’s not the question…”.
“For me, Rafa Nadal is Roland Garros, and Seeing that he is no longer going to play at Roland-Garros is difficult to accept“, says the former tennis player and coach.
