Ljubicic joins the FFT as Director of the “Ambition 2024” mission

The FFT are hoping that Ivan Ljubicic, the former world No 3 and ex-coach of Roger Federer, can help them transform their set-up and culture. The Croatian has been appointed director of ‘Ambition 2024’, a new project that is intended to focus on Paris’s forthcoming Olympic Games.

According to the press release. Gilles Moretton and his team hope Ljubicic will bring his experience and winning mindset to the FFT.

“His approach to tennis, focused on performance at every moment and down to the smallest detail, is driven by the winning culture that we want to instill in our French hopefuls – all this without ever turning away from the essential human values that the Federation shares,” explained the FFT president.

Ljubicic will have three months of observation as a first step

Ljubicic will work alongside Nicolas Escudé, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Pauline Parmentier to observe the over-14s talent pathway. From a base in Monaco, Ljubicic will begin with a three-month tour of French tennis to get his own idea of the areas in which it is most important to make some changes.

“I am very happy to join the French Tennis Federation, one of the federations in the world that devotes the most resources to developing the potential of its young people. France has a very rich and promising pool of talent and I am putting my experience to work in this new challenge with total commitment and a strong desire to share the values that forge champions,” Ljubicic was quoted as saying in the FFT press release.

The Croatian also gave an interview to the newspaper L’Equipe on Tuesday in which he explains that he still does not understand why the French players continue to struggle despite the FFT resources they draw upon – creating an “interesting challenge” for him to grapple with.

“I feel that there are many areas where I can help with my approach to the game, my mentality. I’m going to try to make the young guys realise that they can really do it, that they can be ambitious, that they can have high goals. That feeling has maybe been lost over the last 10 to 15 years in France.

“It’s a bit like Real Madrid not having won anything in a long time. In a way, that’s also how I started with Roger (Federer), who hadn’t won Grand Slam titles for four years. It’s kind of the same feeling that I have. There’s so much potential in France, with so many young people playing good tennis.”

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