Indian Wells: Big-serving Croat Ivan Ljubicic may have become one of the respected veterans on the ATP Tour but at the age of 31 he believes he is playing some of the best tennis of his career.
Ljubicic beat world number two Novak Djokovic at the Indian Wells tournament earlier this week and has a golden opportunity to trump that victory when he faces holder Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Although Nadal slipped to third in the rankings after withdrawing from the Australian Open in January due to a knee injury, the Spanish left-hander appears back to his best.
"I feel like I'm ready to win big ones and I'm ready to beat anybody," Ljubicic told reporters after booking a place in the last four by powering past Argentina's Juan Monaco 4-6 6-2 6-1.
"Mentally, I feel much more relaxed. I'm in the semi-finals and playing fantastic tennis. Now the key is to keep going and try to stay in shape as long as possible."
Ljubicic, a winner of nine ATP titles, climbed to a career high third in the rankings in 2006 when he beat virtually everyone in the game with the exception of world number one Roger Federer.
However, he lost ground over the next two years and suffered a major setback in 2008 when was sidelined for two months because of a recurring back injury.
DISTANT MEMORIES
Thankfully those are now distant memories for him and, helped by a change of fitness trainer in September, he feels stronger and more motivated than ever.
"It doesn't matter how old are you, it's all about motivation," said Ljubicic, who turned 31 on Friday. "For me, it's much easier than it was in 2007. That was a really difficult year for me mentally. It was very, very hard.”
"I feel really motivated now with nothing to prove to anybody. I'm playing for myself again as I was doing at beginning of my career. I'm enjoying every good result and it's more relaxing for me now than it was three years ago."
Asked whether his all-round game was as good as it has ever been, he replied: "It's very close. There were times where I felt almost unbeatable except when I was playing Roger. There were times that I was really only losing to him in '05, '06.”
"It's great to feel ready to beat these kinds of players," the Croat added, referring to Djokovic and Nadal. "The more you play against them, the more you're ready to beat them and the more you feel like you are part of this group again."
Ljubicic had no hesitation when asked to pinpoint a winning formula against former world number one Nadal.
"What it takes to beat Rafa, you have to hit five winners per point to win every point, and you have to do it for two, three hours sometimes," he said with a smile.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, March 20, 2010, 09:27