The French Tennis Federation wants to keep its top-level director. This Tuesday, the FFT “reaffirmed its confidence” in Ivan Ljubicic, despite his resignation from the position of head of the French teams after the French failure at the Olympic Games.
No Frenchman had reached the quarter-finals of the Olympics this summer in Paris, a first since 1996. Ljubicic had offered to step down as manager of the French teams, deeming the results of the Blues at the Games to be “catastrophic”. Ljubicic took office in December 2022. The Olympic and Paralympic Games are one of the main focuses of his mandate. Former world number three, Ivan Ljubicic also coached Roger Federer.
“A suitable person” according to the FFT
Although the body shares “the disappointment of Ljubicic and tennis lovers with the results achieved at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games”, the FFT considers the Croatian as “the ideal person to continue the transformation of the high-level unit and allow the emergence of a new ambitious and efficient generation”, according to a press release.
The Federation insists in particular on “the project set up by its high-level director, his availability to the players, his experience as a player and coach”. “The FFT is convinced that stability is a key factor in achieving objectives at the high level”, the text continues.
The Federation then tempers the observation of a failure: “The recent results, although improvable, testify to a positive dynamic that must be continued and amplified. The presence of three French players in the second week at Wimbledon, the victory of Arthur Fils in Hamburg and the regular performances of young players like Clara Burel, Diane Parry or Varvara Gracheva are all positive promises that must be supported and amplified.”
The FFT also “renews” in its press release “its confidence in Paul-Henri Mathieu and Julien Benneteau, respectively captains of the French men’s and women’s teams, who will continue to assume full responsibility for the meetings and their results.”
