ROLAND GARROS

June 5, 2024

Ivan Ljubicic

Press Conference

IVAN LJUBICIC: Maybe an assessment of the tournament. Well, it's really difficult for me. I'm not super happy because I think that the results -- of course, we have Moutet, Gracheva, Paquet who had very positive results. We hadn't anticipated such results, especially from Chloe Paquet, who used very well her wild card.

Then the rest of the players we talked about them with some of you. We have a generation that is rising, and I can start with the boys, who haven't won so many matches here. It's true.

We have to look and to try to continue improving because this year if we talk about the tennis level, I think it's better. Even though we don't have victories, we are here to win. Not just to participate and play tennis, but we are here to try and win.

Of course, after Arthur Cazaux and Luca Van Assche were injured, it was positive for them to be here. It had not been easy. But the other players, well, I would like to see players winning matches.

In doubles the situation is quite dramatic because almost no one won any match. I'm talking about the players who have the possibility to play in Olympics. Guinard and Jacq have used the alternate position very well, but in the women's categories we know the difficulty with Caroline regarding the surface. She didn't find how to find the pace to move forward. She didn't play exceptional tennis, but she won the first round with fighting spirit, but in the second round she didn't find how to win.

Although Kenin is someone who plays very well, there are things that she could have improved in order to have better results.

Diane won the derby against Fiona and then against Svitolina. It was not easy, but Roland Garros and Grand Slams in general are not easy. She played very well at the end of the match, but she was also slightly injured, and she couldn't find enough time to prepare this tournament in an ideal manner.

Up to the tournament I was talking about my feeling that we had the possibility to do something special, especially regarding the Olympic Games and not Roland Garros. Unfortunately, I was right. We didn't have excellent results here in Roland Garros.

I know that I criticize often, but I also saw positive signs. I'm thinking about this upcoming generation, especially the boys. It's really interesting with Giovanni, who had an excellent result in Lyon. So we have to be patient.

In the girls with Clara and Diane in the women's category we have bright future, but we don't know if they'll be top 30, 20, or 10. We can't know, but they have the talent and the potential to go there.

Then if you want to, I can talk about the juniors with the boys. It's very interesting. 2006 and 2007 we have Pierre Antoine Faut who played. That is a generation that is having difficulties, but in 2008 Timeo Trufelli won his match with his wild card. At 16 years old he won against a better player. 2009 it's a very interesting generation with Moise Kouame, Daniel Jade, and the other ones who are coming.

I know that you are used to listen to potential future, and, of course, the present we don't have much. That's true, but we are going to try to change that. It's more or less the only thing I can say. I'm investing a lot of time and energy to try to explain what I've seen, what I would like to see in the future, and we'll continue with that.

In the girls category all the players who played here, unfortunately, played with a wild card, and they lost in the first round. It's normal that they didn't have excellent results because they don't have the level to play that type of tournament except Sarah Iliev, who was ready, but unfortunately, she was injured.

Q. We saw that Italian tennis played a nasty role against French tennis. What has Italian tennis done better than French tennis in the last years? What has been better done in their system to have ten players in the top 100 right now and have better players than France?

IVAN LJUBICIC: If we talk about the very high level, I'm not sure. I don't really believe in a system. I said that before. The system trains the mentality, the attitude, but not the very high-level players.

In Italy we know the structure. It's all individual projects. Sinner has never played one day in the Federation. He did group training sessions and training periods, but no day at the Federation.

For the other players it's the same. What does The Federation do? The Federation is there if the players need something, with the structure, if they need services, if players need it.

But it's a kind of generation especially Jannik Sinner -- I don't know how to say in French -- he's pulling the others. He's like a pillar, and that's what we are lacking in France.

It we are looking at the numbers of top-100, top-200 players, we are better than in Italy, but when you have Sinner, Arnaldi, Musetti, who are absolutely excellent, although they were an individual project.

It's much easier to speak about projects or system, but the truth is that in Italy they also have something that is impossible in France. They have a president who has been there for 22 years, so they have the continuity of projects. It's something that can't be done in France or in any other country.

They've found a way to have continuity, and maybe they made errors, of course. That's for sure, but they've invested a lot to have the Masters Finals in Italy. They invested to have group stages of Davis Cup event in Italy. So these are things that are huge investments not only in terms of money, but also in terms of state of mind, attitude towards tennis, and functioning.

We can also remind the situation in Italy over the last 20 years when the situation that was fantastic with the girls -- in the women's tennis. The men's tennis was not at the right level, and now it's changed. So we need a generation that is going to push the other players, and I really hope and I believe that the generation we have for 2002, 2003, 2004 will change the situation.

Q. You said that you would like to see some things, you would like to bring some things. What would you like to bring in terms of attitude, mentality? What would you like to have more?

IVAN LJUBICIC: It's not only mentality. I'm talking about my experience and know-how in terms of tennis, scheduling, mentality, everything I can bring. We work like this today. I'm open to discuss with all coaches and not only of this year, no, but also of all others because the responsibility of The Federation is also for all players in France representing France.

I know that it's not positive to say, but we need time. When I worked with Croatian players and other players, normal time period of five to eight years. That's what it takes to change things. If we think about players 12 to 16 years old, that's where you can change things to see results maybe next year, maybe the year after. So it's really a long time frame.

So the results we have, it's not what we did last year or two years ago. There were periods before. That's why I was talking about continuity, about responsibility. 2029, if I'm still here and if we still have difficulties and results that are not good, it will be my responsibility to say, Okay, I made errors that are catastrophic, and I go back home, but we are not able to have that. It's a truth in France.

We always change, and all the responsibilities change every two years, so it's very difficult to have long-term results and to know exactly what is working and when something is not working to change, but life is like that. It's not politics.

Even in individual projects when you take a coach, if the results are not there after six months, you change coach. Maybe the coach is perfect or ideal, but he doesn't have the time to show what he is able to do, and that's modern sports, but also modern way of life. Same thing in football, basketball, all the other sports. It's exactly the same.

Q. More cultural question. We talked to Lucas Pouille, who said that in France we pushed too high players who could have a breakthrough. Do you think that the long waiting time that we have in Grand Slam in France makes it more difficult for French players to shine in these tournaments?

IVAN LJUBICIC: I think for all players in France playing at Roland Garros is something special. Like in U.K. for Wimbledon or the US Open, the pressure of the players here is higher than for any other week. So it's not easy. That's true.

It's not easy for French players to play here, so that's pressure, but pressure is part of high-level sports. So you have to find a way to remain competitive here.

It's not simple, but it's normal. At the beginning of my career playing in Croatia was complicated. Also playing the Davis Cup was complicated, but then you get used to it. You find a way to use the crowd, to use the pressure in a positive way. So it's normal for a young player to have difficult times here, but with the experience it can change.

For example, Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils like playing in France, but in the beginning it was not the case.

Q. You said that the Italian Federation maybe did errors, but in France we don't make errors. We respect the relationship with clay. We built a CNE, and we didn't have a covered or indoor clay court. We don't do anything for French players to grow on clay, to like clay, and we have disastrous results on clay.

IVAN LJUBICIC: Yes, indeed, this kind of logic, but we will try at the beginning of September and this year to train more on clay. We have the possibility at Jean Bouin to use more clay courts, but it's not the only reason because if we look at American players who once in a while... or Chinese Shang Juncheng, who never saw clay until he was 15 and now clay is his favorite surface, so it's not only that.

I agree with you in terms of training. We have to spend more time on clay. I have also asked to Juan Carlos Ferrero. He told me he never played on clay until the age of 15. I was absolutely astonished because he was a clay court specialist. Also in Spain I thought that everyone was playing on clay.

So yes and no. It's always the same, but I think that we must spend more time on clay. Now it's my responsibility, so I'm going to organize that. We will do that, and we will do training sessions in the south when we can. We did use Jean Bouin a bit more, but also, we have to follow the needs because Orange Bowl, we know it's on the hard court. So you can't practice on clay just before going to the U.S., but all the players who play in Australia have to train on the hard court, but we'll do something on this topic because I think that although we can always talk about counter examples, we will change the time spent on clay.

Q. According to you, from which age and classification or ranking should we let more players manage themselves? For example, after 18 a top-100 or top-200, should The Federation continue supporting them, or in France do we not help them too much and they're not so much responsible for themselves?

IVAN LJUBICIC: I was talking about that, the responsibility of The Federation if we talk about the boys. Girls, it's different. When you are a top-100, you have to get organized on your own.

Last year it was Arthur Fils. This year we have Arthur Cazaux and Giovanni Mpetshi, who had a great progression. So we have started talking with them.

We will see if they will keep the coach. We'll find a solution because it's not the objective of The Federation to stop a relationship that is working, but we cannot continue training, and when I say training, I mean the financial part to pay for the coach, the expenses for player who is in the top 100. It's not normal.

So we already worked on that topic, but I think it's a bit like that. When you are in the top 100, you have to get organized yourself. You must go on your own. Then with Paul-Henri Mathieu, Laurent Raymond, myself, we are present in the tournament. We can help. We have the structure. We have the services, even with medical statistics, mental coaching. We can offer these services, but if we are talking specifically about the individual projects -- I'm talking about the physios and the tennis coaches -- that's what I mean.

Well, actually, it's not natural for the dynamics of the relationship between the player and the coach, to have a coach that the player has not chosen. If you are in the top 100, you have to choose your coach with whom you want to practice because it's not The Federation who has to decide with whom they will train. That's when they have to decide.

Then we always have special cases that are different, but I would like to see more players taking the decision and responsibility to move forward and not just wait for The Federation to say or to do something because The Federation is there to help, not -- well, to train, of course, but not to coach and take all the responsibilities for players who are in the top 100.

Q. Is there not a paradox if we talk about Arthur Fils? The Federation does not want to care for them, but the player has to choose their coach, but we have to have a player with a good coach, and the result was very good with Arthur Fils in the structure. Is there not a paradox?

IVAN LJUBICIC: Yes, of course. It's true that Laurent Raymond did interesting work with Arthur, and he had the possibility to continue with Arthur, but it was his decision to have totally different structure. That's what I mean when they have to take responsibility and also accept that they can make errors.

It's important for them to understand that it's impossible to make only perfect choices. That doesn't exist, and Arthur was with Sergi Bruguera. Honestly, I don't know why, and I don't know if it worked or what didn't work, but then he has to move forward. He has to make decisions. He had to make difficult decision and make errors.

That's part of the building and the training of a player and of a person. It's up to them to make difficult choices. Yesterday I was talking about difficult decisions that all the top players are used to and forced to make.

Even Jannik Sinner. He hasn't played the Italian Open, and that wasn't easy. Last year he didn't play the -- well, he didn't play the Olympic Games in Tokyo. That was a scandal. He didn't play the Davis Cup in September of last year, and La Gazzetta Dello Sport was very negative about that, but that's the choices he made.

Then he won the Davis Cup. He won the Austrian Open, and he is No. 1 in the world now. Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions and make errors and move forward and learn.

Regarding Arthur Fils, he's here in Paris. I'm talking a lot with him. The choice he made with Grosjean and Bruguera, for me on the paper, it's incredible. It's super positive, super ambitious. Then you can't know if there's a good relationship between the player and the coach and if it will work.

So you have to analyze, and my responsibility and role as a high-level director is to look at that and not be too much involved to have the objectivity and be able to say what I think.

So it's my opinion on Arthur Fils since the beginning of the year, it's been Arthur's project, and we are here to support, to assist, but if he wants to move forward or not, that's his responsibility.

Q. You talked about the assessment of the doubles tournament that was very complicated. We were expecting a lot of information for the Olympic selection. If Guinard and Jacq win Roland Garros, do they have a chance to making it to the Olympic Games, or is your choice already made for the men's doubles?

IVAN LJUBICIC: No, we haven't made any choice. That's why we tried to explain to all the players for mixed doubles to really play serious competition in mixed doubles, but we didn't succeed.

If you can imagine, if someone wins Roland Garros in mixed doubles, we in the selection can't say, Oh, congratulations, but we don't select you. That's not possible, but no one succeeded in doing that. Then in men's doubles if someone wins Roland Garros, of course, especially because the other players didn't have great results...

So we won't wait for the end of the tournament to see what will happen. We think about Pouille and Barrere, who started well in the tournament, but then they lost.

So I won a medal in doubles, but I never played doubles tournaments seriously. I didn't play 100%. I used doubles matches not to win, but to spend more time in competition to practice volley, serve, return, but Davis Cup and Olympic Games I was playing at 100%.

Grand Slam sometimes when I lost in singles, I played Grand Slam to win, and I went to the quarterfinals in doubles, but if someone wins a Grand Slam in doubles, we have to select them. I can't say, yes, they will play. We'll have to think with the team, et cetera, but absolutely, we will take that into account.

Q. Always for doubles --

IVAN LJUBICIC: Wait. If we take the wild card, we only have one team, and that's the complication. But as far as I'm concerned, today I can't close the door because if someone wins a Grand Slam at Roland Garros, especially because the Olympics will be on the same courts. So taking the risk and the responsibility of saying, well, this team won Roland Garros and it's the best possibility for us to win a medal, let's go. So that's the decision that will be difficult to take, but we have to make the difficult decision, as we said.

Q. On the same topic, it's very interesting. You confirm that if you take wild card in doubles, you will not have a second doubles teams, but since single players are not as good at doubles, it's all problem.

IVAN LJUBICIC: Yes, and for mixed doubles we can't create a mixed doubles team with players who are not there. So only those who are selected can play the mixed doubles. If Guinard and Jacq are the doubles team, we can't take Edouard to play mixed doubles. That's the situation.