Following the announcement that Sinner’s longtime coach, Darren Cahill, will retire at the end of the 2025 season, Ljubicic tentatively admitted that he would consider helping the 23-year-old train for future glory.
When asked by Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger if he would coach Sinner, the Croatian said: “I have a job with the French FA that keeps me busy, but when a player like Sinner knocks on your door, you have to at least consider it, just like with Roger Federer.
“Sinner, Alcaraz…There are some players who give me goosebumps. At some point, I’ll return to coaching a player, but I don’t know when.”
Ljubicic clearly thinks highly of the newest rivalry in tennis, but he confessed that he didn’t expect such good competition after the Big Three departed. Federer and Rafael Nadal have both retired their racquets, while Novak Djokovic still enjoys his time on the courts at 38 years old.
When quizzed on whether he thought that Alcaraz and Sinner would take over so seamlessly, the 46-year-old said: “No. The first time I heard about Alcaraz was when he played against Sinner in a Challenger tournament. He was 16 then, and Sinner was 18.
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“Riccardo Piatti had been my coach; he coached Sinner, so I knew all about him. That’s also how I heard about Alcaraz. I knew he was going to be good. But this good? You never know. Alcaraz and Sinner are both very eager to win many Grand Slam titles. It will be exciting to see how far they go.”
Ljubicic noted that the rivalry between the two young tennis stars will only get better, as they have plenty of work to do to get to the levels of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic. While discussing the intense French Open final, he added: “It was a good final. A very, very, very good final.
“The drama was perfect with the match points that were saved, but people always exaggerate. John McEnroe said that Nadal would have had no chance against these guys – that’s nonsense.
“We still haven’t seen the best of Alcaraz and Sinner; they still have plenty of room for improvement. The next generation is always better than the previous one, but I don’t think they’re ahead yet. Sometimes I watch Roger and Rafa’s matches from 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2015. That was incredible tennis.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk