Now he has stepped away from the matchcourt, with Federer retiring at the Laver Cup in 2022 alongside Rafael Nadal.

The Swiss had multiple coaches throughout his career including Ivan Ljubicic, who has described coaching Federer as ‘complicated’ at times.

Not only did Federer have Ljubicic in his coaching box, but they were also competitors on multiple occasions including some big finals.

Ivan Ljubicic claims Roger Federer was ‘lucky’ in 2005 Rotterdam Open final against him

One of those finals came at the Rotterdam Open in 2005, where Federer had lost in the final four years prior to Nicolas Escude.

However, on this occasion Federer was able to take the title after getting the better of Ljubicic in a deciding set tie-break victory.

This final has recently been brought back into the attention of tennis fans, after Ljubicic reacted to one of the best points from the match on social media.

Seemingly joking at the point that Federer had won, Ljubicic wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Lucky, as usual.”

Federer went onto win three titles in Rotterdam, while Ljubicic would lose in another final in 2007, but this time to Mikhail Youzhny.

After joining forces as a coaching team 11 years on from their 2005 Rotterdam final, Ljubicic helped Federer win three Grand Slam titles and four Masters 1000 tournaments before he retired from tennis in 2022.

Former winners of the Rotterdam Open

The 2025 Rotterdam Open is around the corner, but defending champion Jannik Sinner will not be present after he elected to withdraw following his Australian Open victory.

Someone who will be there is Carlos Alcaraz, who is playing in Rotterdam for the first time in his career in 2025.

However, Alcaraz’s first round draw in Rotterdam may bring up some flashbacks that he wants to put behind him from the US Open.

Although Sinner will not be returning to Rotterdam this year, former champions Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and Stan Wawrinka will all be looking to repeat their previous victories at the ATP 500 tournament.

Two of those former champions will compete against each other in the first round, with Medvedev playing Wawrinka in Rotterdam on Monday February 3.

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