From Refugee ID Card to World Fame
The former Croatian tennis player took a thorny path from leaving Banja Luka to coaching Roger Federer and building his own management agency.
The former Croatian tennis player took a thorny path from leaving Banja Luka to coaching Roger Federer and building his own management agency.
Ivan Ljubičić is today considered one of the greatest tennis players in Croatian history, with 11 tournament titles won in the Croatian jersey and more than 9,500 euros earned during his career. But the path to that status was anything but easy, and a recent photo he posted on social media clearly shows that. It's a social ID card with his photo, with the word "refugee" written above his face.
At age 12, Ljubičić won the Yugoslav championship, eight years after his father first brought him to a tennis court. However, his joy after that great triumph was short-lived. Due to the war, he was forced to leave his hometown of Banja Luka with the rest of his family. Until then, his main concern had been building his career, but after going into exile, survival became the priority.
He arrived in Croatia in May 1992, along with his mother Hazira and brother Vlado. His father Marko stayed in Banja Luka because he was not allowed to leave the country. The family waited for his arrival for a long and uncertain five months, after which he finally arrived in Sisak. The journey then took the Ljubičić family to Rijeka, and brought Ivan back to the tennis courts.
"I went to Turin and spent three years there. At first it wasn't easy; I wanted to go home... But little by little, I got used to it, learned the language, felt good, and results started coming," Ljubičić once said about the opportunity to train in Italy, which he described as crucial for his career.
His playing career lasted until April 2012, when at age 33 he decided it was time to stop playing. But he didn't withdraw from the tennis world. For a while, he commented on tennis events for Italy's Sky Sport, and then tried his hand at coaching. Under his guidance, Miloš Raonić advanced to the fourth position on the ATP rankings.
In 2015, he began working with Roger Federer, one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Under Ljubičić's guidance, Federer won the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017, and again the Australian Open the following season. Those trophies were Federer's first after a period of four and a half years without a Grand Slam title. That episode ended with Federer's retirement, and Ljubičić was hired by the French Tennis Federation.
Ljubičić also made a name for himself as a manager, especially as Federer's career drew to a close. The first player he managed was Czech Tomas Berdych. He further strengthened his agency, LJ Sports Group, by bringing in his brother-in-law Fadi Shalabi, coach of Luka Kutanjac, Dino Marčan, and Mate Delić, as well as former ATP director Richard Evans.
So far, the agency has worked with prominent tennis players such as Borna Ćorić, Daria Kasatkina, and Zhizhen Zhang, as well as young talents Duje Ajduković, Dino Prižmić, and Petra Marčinko. They have also collaborated with other athletes, including footballer Ivan Perišić, athlete Niko Šepić, and Formula 1 driver Nico Hülkenberg.
