"He is the point of reference": Ivan Ljubicic highlights French tennis problems

Former coach of Switzerland’s tennis star Roger Federer, Ivan Ljubicic, believes that French tennis is struggling due to a lack of superstars.

French tennis has also been famous for producing top-quality players in the past. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils and Yannick Noah are a few of the players who have made a name for themselves in the world of tennis, especially in the men’s category.

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Ljubicic, who has worked with Swiss legend Federer, was recently quoted in a report as saying that French tennis is struggling because it lacks a superstar compared to Italian tennis, where younger players can look up to someone like Jannik Sinner, who has recently become the number one player in men’s tennis, overtaking Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.

"In Italy we know the structure,” he said. “These are individual projects. Sinner never played a day for the Federation. He participated in group training sessions and courses, but he never played a day for the Federation. I don't think that at the top levels both the manager and the system. It shapes players and their mentality, but at a very, very high level, it's mostly individual projects.

Jannik Sinner is the first Italian player to become the world number one in professional tennis.

“The Italian Federation is present if the players need something with their structure, services. But it is above all Jannik Sinner who cheers them up. He is the point of reference, and this is what is missing in France. If you look at the top 200, France is better than Italy. But when you have Sinner, then Matteo Arnaldi or Lorenzo Musetti, who are really strong, that helps.”

Sinner has been in a phenomenal form this year where he has already won his first Grand Slam after beating Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in the final in a five-set thriller with a score of 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

He recently participated in the French Open, where he was defeated in the semifinal by Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz with a score of 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.