Ivan Ljubicic, one of the best tennis players from the former Yugoslavia, was born in Banja Luka, and at the age of 12, he was the national champion of that country.
The documentary film about Ljubicic premiered at the end of 2023 and is called “Ljubo, the man saved by tennis”.
Roger Federer’s former coach spoke in the film about his difficult childhood and the moment he left his hometown.
“I was born in Banja Luka and I remember that day after day they came to school and showed me – this one is a Serb, this one is a Croat,” Ljubicic pointed out.
The Croat later stated that he dreamed of his home in Banja Luka for 25 years.
“I remember that feeling of loneliness, of not being able to get some kind of point of orientation. I think I reached a high level in tennis thanks to the hardships I went through.”
At the beginning of the 1990s war in Bosnia, he had to leave Banja Luka, from where he came to Croatia as a refugee with his mother Hazira and brother Vlado in 1992.
After that, Ljubicic moved to Italy, where he began his tennis career, during which he won 10 tournaments and was third in the world in 2006.
He later coached Federer, who also appeared in a documentary film about Ivan Ljubicic, N1 writes.
E.Dz.
