Roger Federer's coach explains how lofty comeback goals contributed to retirement decision
ROGER FEDERER retired at last month's Laver Cup in London.
Roger Federer’s coach has revealed that the 41-year-old had high expectations for his comeback to tennis before deciding to retire. Ivan Ljubicic said the 20-time Grand Slam champion wouldn’t have been satisfied with being the world No 25 or losing in early rounds, and didn’t want to return to tennis unless he could be “100 per cent”, forcing him to end his career.
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Federer recently retired at last month’s Laver Cup, announcing the difficult decision a week before the team tournament. The former world No 1 had not competed for 14 months after suffering a “setback” with his troublesome knee injury during Wimbledon in 2021 which made him end his season early to undergo a third surgery on his right knee.
But the 41-year-old announced last month that he had to listen to the “messages” his body was sending him and decided to retire at the team tournament, playing one final match with Rafael Nadal in the doubles. And Federer’s coach of six years has now confessed that the 103-time title winner had his requirements he wanted to meet before considering a comeback.
“We had a certain progress in mind, which was necessary to continue,” Ljubicic told Punto De Break. “For him, continuing meant winning tournaments. To continue did not mean for him to win a game. He wouldn't have come back to play a first round and second round.”
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Federer had struggled with the same injury in 2020, ending his season after the Australian Open that year and having two surgeries before mounting a short-lived comeback at the Doha ATP 250 in March 2021, playing just five tournaments before shutting down his season once again. Ljubicic admitted that the Swiss star was “never 100 per cent” during that period, and didn’t want to experience the same if he made another comeback.
The former world No 3 added: “He wanted to come back to be 100 per cent. Returning to be as it was in 2021 was not an option for him.” While Federer wanted to find every reason not to retire, Ljubicic also said that he knew the 41-year-old wouldn’t be happy sitting at No 25 in the world instead of the lofty heights he was used to.
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“People sometimes come to me and ask me if I think he would have retired if he had won Wimbledon in 2019 and I say no, why? Not that he was looking for the reason to retire. He wanted to play.
“How much would he have played? He would say until he had felt competitive. I don't think being 25 in the world would have been a fun thing for him, but he never looked for a reason to retire.
