Greg Rusedski has raised a concern about Felix Auger-Aliassime’s new coaching arrangement with Ivan Ljubicic less than two weeks into their partnership.

After nearly 10 years with coach Frederic Fontang, Auger-Aliassime split with his mentor in July, before hiring former world No 3 Ljubicic at the start of October.

He took on this role with the Canadian even though he still has a job with the French Tennis Federation. Previously, the Croatian – who coached Roger Federer between 2016-22 – served as head of elite performance, before acting as a special advisor to president Gilles Moretton.

When questions arose about this dual role, the FFT said, “Ivan’s contract with the FFT does not prevent him from individually coaching players competing on the ATP or WTA Tours. This collaboration is therefore compatible with his role at the FFT.”

However, former US Open finalist Rusedski thinks there is a little “conflict” going on there, especially if the 26-year-old faces off against a French player at some point.

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Despite that, former world No 4 Rusedski thinks Ljubicic is a great appointment for Auger-Aliassime, who harbours desires of winning Grand Slams and taking the next step in his career.

He said on Off Court with Greg Rusedski, “He got Ljubicic on board, probably because he worked with Roger Federer and got him to win three more slams (2017-2018). He’s experienced, he has the knowledge. Can he transition that into Auger-Aliassime’s game?

“Ljubicic is still going to be part of the French Tennis Federation, which is an interesting one. How are they going to balance this out? How is it going to work when Auger-Aliassime plays a French player? He’s got to coach against them.

“So there’s a little conflict going on there, to figure out, ‘Okay, how is this going to work?’ Sometimes federations allow you to do it but for me, I think sometimes it’s either one or the other and trying to figure out the balance.

“The credentials of Ivan as a coach are exceptional and he was a player that really studied [the game] technically and tactically and knew what he wanted to do.

“And a lot of the work they have been doing from the clips I have seen have been a lot of tactical work and I am sure there will also technical and tactical combinations with Ivan, really taking a deep dive into how Auger-Aliassime to take up the next step.”

This is not the first time Auger-Aliassime has been at the centre of a coaching dilemma. At the 2022 French Open, his coach Toni Nadal admitted that he would still route for Rafael Nadal despite being on the Canadian’s payroll.

That caused quite a stir at the time and after his results declined, they parted ways in 2024. Hopefully for his sake, Auger-Aliassime won’t get any coaching deja vu.

Incidentally, Auger-Aliassime currently sits sixth in the ATP Rankings but hit a career high of four earlier this year. He has reached the quarter-finals of every major and has made it to the semi-finals of the US Open twice.

However, he is a two-time runner-up at Masters 1000 level and is still aiming for a Grand Slam breakthrough. Whether he can achieve that with Ljubicic remains to be seen.

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