Team - 0

The people behind LJ Sports Group

Team

In-house experts

Our carefully selected team consists of experienced in-house specialists covering all areas of management, sponsorship and consulting.

Ivan Ljubicic

Ivan Ljubicic

Chairman and CEO, Founder

Ivan’s experience both on and off the court is impressive.

As a professional tennis player for 15 years his highlights to name a few are: Highest ranking of world No. 3; Olympic bronze medal in 2004; Davis Cup title 2005; Semifinalist in Roland Garros 2006; Indian Wells title in 2010. Ivan also served as the ATP Players' Council president and in 2008 became one of the few active players to serve on the ATP Board of Directors.

In 2007 he was named ATP Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of Year for his off-court work with Special Olympics and in 2011 presented with the ATP Aces for Charity grant for his work with the Special Olympics Monaco in 2011.

After retiring in 2012, Ivan has worked as a coach and manager for several top 5 players and founded his first management agency.

As co-founder and the driving force behind LJ Sports Group, Ivan sets the example and benchmark of excellence defining the culture of the company.

Sanna Nokka

Sanna Nokka

Co-Founder, Senior Advisor

LL.M. Sanna Nokka is the CEO in Verona Tax & Legal Oy and the CEO of Talent Vectia Oy.

Sanna has more than 20 years of experience in domestic and international taxation and in corporate advisory.
Sanna specialises in company structure arrangements, tax audit, tax returns and in the planning of transferring corporations to the next generation.

In addition, Sanna oversees Human Resources within Verona group.

Marko Nokka

Marko Nokka

Co-founder

Marko has more than 25 years of experience in domestic and international taxation and is the founder and CEO of Verona International Oy.

He has previously led the Owner Managed Business Service Group in PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy.

Marko has been in charge of the complete concern for hundreds of Finnish and international companies and corporates in such issues as tax return, company structure arrangements and withdrawal of entrepreneurship.
Marko also specialises in the planning of effective tax per GNP for consolidated corporations, acquisitions and transfers to the next generation.

Richard Evans

Richard Evans

Chief Marketing Officer

Richard has a wealth of experience from various sport sponsorship, PR, and marketing roles.

The most recent of which was Senior Director, for the ATP Tour (men’s professional tennis tour). In addition to working with some of the most high-profile athletes on the planet, Richard has negotiated and secured some of the largest sponsorship deals in sport, most recently securing the first ever Asian title partner for the largest indoor tennis tournament in the world.

As well as selling sponsorship, Richard has worked with many of the world’s leading brands, helping them fine tune their global sponsorship strategies and activations.

Luka Kutanjac

Luka Kutanjac

Tennis Head Coach

Luka has 20 years of coaching experience, during which he has worked in the USA, Asia and Europe with players from junior level all the way up to top ATP and WTA professionals.

Whilst on the ATP and WTA Tours Luka continues to seek new information allowing him to grow and develop further his coaching methods. Luka also has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kinesiology in Zagreb, Croatia.
Recently, Luka has been the captain of the Croatian team at inaugural ATP Cup 2020.  He has been part of Ivan Ljubicic's team since 2015. He loves tennis, developing and mentoring people and ultimately his job.

Fadi Shalabi

Fadi Shalabi

Agent, Project Manager

Fadi has extensive experience in a variety of different roles within sport.

Over the last 14 years, Fadi has worked as an agent to some of the world's top tennis players. In addition, Fadi has organised tennis tournaments and worked as a tournament director for professional tennis events.
His experience prior to joining the professional tennis scene included running a marketing agency and working as a project manager.

These different roles have enabled Fadi to understand the needs of athletes as well as the needs of other sports stakeholders, giving him an out of the box mindset in helping understand the complexities around every facet of professional sports and how to navigate and pull them together successfully.

Dino Marcan

Dino Marcan

Player's Agent, Sponsors Relations

Dino is a former professional tennis player with 10-years of experience in competing on the ATP Tour.

Among Dino's many strengths are communication, organization skills and his attention to detail. Dino’s experience as a professional athlete has given him an understanding of what athletes need to achieve peak performance.

Dino regularly works with governing entities and organisations in sport liaising with them to get the best for his clients.
He also communicates regularly with sponsors to make sure all partnerships are cohesive, and that processes, feedback and assignments are fulfilled and delivered to a high and professional standard.
Dino has a love for PR and media and takes great pride in growing his client’s profiles.

Carlo Alberto Romiti

Carlo Alberto Romiti

Client Relations

Carlo Alberto (Charly) is highly experienced in the field of marketing & communications.

In previous roles at Babolat Italy and a leading communications agency, Carlo was responsible for trade marketing & promotion of the brand, with a particular focus on aligning athletes, coaches, and clubs to the company’s brand identity.
Charly believes this connection is key to successful brand and sport property partnerships.

Charly’s experience in another previous role at Tennis Club Milano Alberto Bonacossa in Italy, also allowed him to develop and gain an understanding of the service requirements and revenue streams of players, clubs and tournaments.

Tomislav Golemac

Tomislav Golemac

Player's agent

Tomislav is experienced sports and marketing manager to whom everything is ‘phone call away’!

Tomislav has been involved in the launch of LJ sports group basketball division, in partnership with KIN Partners. He is in charge of recruiting and counseling professional basketball players, taking care of various aspects of their athletic careers. He is certified as a Contract Advisor/Agent by International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and was a holder of FIFA player's agent license too. Tomislav's dynamic ideas, vision and network bring a unique value to LJ sports group team.

Darko Klaic

Darko Klaic

Tennis coach

Darko has a diploma from the University of Zagreb in Kinesiology and exercise science, and has been head coach at the tennis club Chromos for the last 15 years.

Over the last 15 years, Darko has amassed experience in working with young, developing players climbing up the ladder of professional tennis.
Some of his achievements include coaching a player to the Orange Bowl U12 title in 2014. Darko lead the Croatian National Team to the European Championship title (U12, boys) in 2016 and again in 2017.

Darko has been coaching Dino Prizmic since 2019, together they have already won titles at the European U14 Master in 2019 and the Croatian U18 Championships in 2020.

Julia Moldovan

Julia Moldovan

Performance Coach

Julia is an experienced physiotherapist within the tennis world, helping players improve their performances and athletic ability.

Julia has been involved in tennis for the past 15 years, first as a player and then as a physiotherapist for several top WTA/ATP players. In addition, Julia had collaborated with the number of athletes and is the Slovenian Davis Cup Team official physiotherapist.

By being a former tennis player herself, Julia perfectly understands the steps and the mindset needed to achieve great performances.

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