Ana Ivanovic Biography
Summary
"Ana Ivanovi?" (Serbian Cyrillic: ??? ????????, , born November 6, 1987, in Belgrade, Serbia, then Yugoslavia) is a former World #1 Serbian tennis player. She is the current World No. 5 on the WTA Tour and the reigning French Open champion. She was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open.
Personal life
Ivanovi?'s mother, Dragana, a lawyer, attends all of her daughter's matches. Her father, Miroslav, a self-employed businessman, attends as many events as he possibly can. Ana has a younger brother, Milo?, with whom she loves to play basketball. Other hobbies include shopping, watching movies and playing Sudoku. She chooses not to have a permanent coach. Aside from her tennis career, Ivanovi? also studies finance at a university in Belgrade, and Spanish in her spare time. Her inspiration to begin playing was Monica Seles, and she also admires Roger Federer.
On September 8, 2007, Ivanovi? became a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia, alongside Aleksandar ?or?evi? and Emir Kusturica. She takes a special interest in the fields of education and child protection. Ivanovi? visited a primary school in Serbia during her inauguration and said: 'I'm also looking forward to going into the classroom and meeting many kids.'
Ivanovi? is a fan of all sport clubs competing under the name of Partizan Belgrade.
Ivanovi? is friends with former doubles partner Maria Kirilenko, as well as other professional tennis players Daniela Hantuchova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sanja Ancic, Rafael Nadal, Tatiana Golovin and fellow Serbians Jelena Jankovic and Novak Djokovic (whom she has known since the age of 5) and Janko Tipsarevi?.
Equipment
Ivanovi? endorsed Nike apparel and shoes at the beginning of her professional career, but at the beginning of 2006, she switched to rival Adidas. She started with the Wilson HTour racquet, then upgraded to the nCode nTour and to the nCode nTour Two before switching to the nCode nBlade. Since the beginning of 2008, Ivanovi? has been using the Yonex RQiS-1TOUR racquet.
Career
Ivanovi? picked up a racket at the age of 5 after watching Monica Seles, a fellow Yugoslavian, at Roland Garros on television. She started her promising career at the age of 5, after memorizing the number of a local tennis clinic from an ad on TV. During her training she encountered the NATO bombings in 1999, where she would have to train in the morning to avoid them. Later on she admitted she would train in an abandoned swimming pool in the winter, as there were no other facilities. When she was 15, Ivanovi? spent four hours in the locker room crying after a defeat - the first that her new manager had watched - because she thought that Dan Holzmann was going to drop her because she felt that she wasn't good enough to become a professional tennis player. He has stayed as her manager to this day.
2004
Ivanovi? first caught the eye of the tennis world when she reached the final of the Junior Wimbledon tournament in 2004, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko. In 2004, she also went 26-0 on the ITF circuit, and won all 5 events that she entered, two of them as a qualifier. Her first professional breakthrough occurred in October of 2004 when she took Venus Williams to two tie breaks before losing 7-6(11), 7-6(6) in the second round of the Zürich Open in Zürich, Switzerland, in which she held several set points in both sets; this was after a 3-set battle with then-ranked Number 27 Tatiana Golovin. She followed that up with a quarterfinal showing in Luxembourg the following week.
2005
Ivanovi? won her first career singles title, as a qualifier, in Canberra, Australia. Her ranking continued to rise after wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, and Vera Zvonareva, all of whom were top 10 players. Ivanovi? lost to Amelie Mauresmo at the Australian Open, Doha, and Key Biscayne, Florida. However, Ivanovi? defeated Mauresmo in the third round of the French Open. Ivanovi? eventually reached the quarterfinals of that tournament, where she lost to Petrova. Later in the year, Ivanovi? reached the semifinals of the Zurich Open and Generali Ladies Linz, losing in both tournaments to Patty Schnyder.
2006
Ivanovi? started off 2006 by playing at the Hopman Cup with fellow Serbian Novak Djokovic where the pair narrowly missed the final. To start off her WTA year she played at the Medibank International in Sydney where she once again defeated Amelie Mauresmo, this time in straight sets, before falling to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.
At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Ivanovi? defeated Anna Chakvetadze 6-3 6-3 before falling to Elena Dementieva in three sets. In the clay court season, she defeated Patty Schnyder in straight sets at the J & S Cup in Warsaw before losing to Anna Chakvetadze after a three-set battle. Retiring against Na Li at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin while leading a set, she was unable to reproduce her record from the previous year, falling to Anastasia Myskina in straight sets in the third round of Roland Garros. She progressed to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon but lost to eventual champion Amelie Mauresmo, 6-3 6-4.
Ivanovi? made her breakthrough in August when she defeated former world number one and comeback queen Martina Hingis in the final of the Canada Masters in Montreal, in which she won 6-2, 6-3. This ultimately led to her winning the United States Open Series ahead of Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova. At the US Open she lost to the resurgent Serena Williams. After some early round losses to Olga Poutchkova at the Wismilak International in Bali and Venus Williams at the FORTIS Championships in Luxembourg, Ivanovi? took a few weeks off to tend to a recurring injury in her right shoulder. She made her return in Linz and made it to the quarterfinals of Generali Ladies, before losing to Maria Sharapova in two tight sets. To finish off her year she had a disappointing run at the Gaz de France Stars in Hasselt, Belgium, as she lost to Dutch player Michaëlla Krajicek.
Ivanovi? also played 9 tournaments in doubles this year, teaming up with Maria Kirilenko and Sania Mirza. Ivanovi? and Kirilenko made 2 semi-finals and a final; they ended the year at number 17 in the annual Race to the Championships.
Ivanovi? finished off 2006 as the 14th best ranked woman in the world. In the doubles, she crept up to finish at number 51 in the world, an improvement of her Top 200 finish in 2005.
2007
Ivanovi?'s first tournament was the Mondial Hardcourts in Gold Coast, Australia, falling to Shahar Pe'er in the quarterfinals 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Her next tournament was the Sydney Medibank International, where she again lost in the quarterfinals, this time to Nicole Vaidisova 6-4, 6-2.
Ivanovi? was the 13th seed at the Australian Open. She defeated Polish player Agnieszka Radwa?ska in the second round but lost to World No. 22 Vera Zvonareva in the third round 6-1, 6-2. Immediately after the tournament, Ivanovi? announced via her official website that she had terminated the services of her then-coach, David Taylor.
At the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Ivanovi? reached her third career final, defeating Jelena Jankovi? in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Maria Sharapova retired from the match while trailing 6-1, 0-1. Ivanovi? then lost to Martina Hingis in the final 6-4, 6-2.
Ivanovi? then left for Europe and played the tournament in Antwerp, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Kim Clijsters.
Ivanovi?'s next two tournaments were Tier I events in the United States. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, she was upset in the fourth round by Sybille Bammer. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Ivanovi? was upset by Yaroslava Shvedova in the second round.
The following week, Ivanovi? began her clay court season at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida. She defeated Jankovi? in the quarterfinals before falling to Tatiana Golovin 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. In her first appearance at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina the following week, Ivanovi? lost to Vera Zvonareva in the third round.
Ivanovi? then returned to Europe to play two red clay court tournaments. In Berlin at the Qatar Telecom German Open, she won her first Tier I clay court title. She defeated Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals and World No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. However, Ivanovi? injured her ankle during the final, which forced her to withdraw from the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. The win in Berlin propelled her into the top ten of the WTA Rankings for the first time, at World No. 8.
Ivanovi? then headed into the French Open on a six-match winning streak. She increased this streak to twelve by reaching the final. She won her first three matches with the loss of only nine games. In her second career quarterfinal at Roland Garros, Ivanovi? defeated World No. 3 Kuznetsova 6-0, 3-6, 6-1. She then beat World No. 2 Sharapova in the semifinals 6-2, 6-1. In the final, Ivanovi? attempted to win her first Grand Slam singles title and complete a sweep of the top three players in the world. Three-time winner Justine Henin, however, won the error-strewn match 6-1, 6-2. Later on, Ivanovi? admitted that the idea of being in the final of a Grand Slam tournament overwhelmed her.
With the clay court season over, Ivanovi? played the Ordina Open on grass in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, losing in the quarterfinals to Daniela Hantuchova. At Wimbledon, Ivanovi? defeated World No. 9 Nadia Petrova in the fourth round 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. In the quarterfinals, Ivanovi? saved three match points to defeat Vaidisova 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. In the semifinals, three-time former Wimbledon champion Venus Williams defeated Ivanovi? 6-2, 6-4.
A persistent knee injury, sustained at Wimbledon, required Ivanovi? to withdraw from Serbian Fed Cup competition with Slovakia and two lead up events to the U.S. Open. Ivanovi? returned to the tour at the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California. In the semifinals, Ivanovi? played her country woman Jankovi? for the third time that year. Ivanovi? saved two match points before winning the match 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. In the final, Ivanovi? defeated Petrova to win the fourth singles title of her career, which propelled her to a career high ranking of World No. 4.
Ivanovi? next attempted to defend her title at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada. However, her title defence lasted only 65 minutes as she lost to Chinese qualifier Yan Zi 6-3, 6-1.
In Ivanovi?'s first three matches at the U.S. Open, she lost only 10 games. Venus Williams then eliminated her for the second consecutive time at a Grand Slam tournament, 6-4, 6-2.
Ivanovi? then returned to Europe for three tournaments. At the Tier II (now changed to Tier III) Luxembourg Championships, Ivanovi? qualified for the WTA Tour Championships as she reached the semifinals. In the final, Ivanovi? rallied from 6-3, 3-0 down to defeat Hantuchova in two hours and 25 minutes. This was her fifth career title. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Ivanovi? lost to Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko in the second round 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. Playing at what Ivanovi? considers her home event, the Tier I Zürich Open, she lost to Golovin in the second round 6-3, 6-1.
To end the year, Ivanovi? played the WTA Tour Championships in Madrid, Spain. Seeded fourth and assigned to the Red Group during the round robin phase, she defeated World No. 2 Kuznetsova in a close three-set match and Hantuchova in straight sets. Sharapova then defeated Ivanovi? in the final match of the round robin 6-1, 6-2. Because she finished second in her group, Ivanovi? played World No. 1 Henin in the semifinals, which the Belgian won 6-4, 6-4.
Ivanovi? finished the year with a career-high ranking of World No. 4, a mere 14 points behind Jankovi?.
2008
Ivanovi? started the year by participating in an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong, where she was seeded first. She lost to Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Ivanovi? then entered the Silver Group, a competition among all first match losers. Based on her world ranking, she was favored to win that competition; however, she lost to World No. 45 Shuai Peng 6-1, 6-3.
Ivanovi?'s next tournament was the Tier II Medibank International in Sydney, which attracted 12 of the top 15 ranked women. After trailing 5-2 in the third set of her second round match, Ivanovi? defeated Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 6-1, 2-6, 7-5. In the quartefinals, Ivanovi? defeated Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik but then lost to Justine Henin in the semifinals 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. This was the first time in four meetings that Ivanovi? took a set off Henin.
Ivanovi? entered the Australian Open as the fourth seed and reached the quarterfinals for the first time. There, Ivanovi? defeated Venus Williams for the first time 7-6, 6-4. In her semifinal against Daniela Hantuchova, Ivanovi? prevailed 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach her second career Grand Slam singles final, after having trailed 6-0, 2-0. She then lost to Maria Sharapova 7-5, 6-3. Because of her performance at this tournament, her ranking rose to World No. 2, the highest of her career.
In Serbia's Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I D round robin tie against Poland in Budapest, Ivanovi? defeated World No. 215 Urszula Radwanska in straight sets. In Serbia's second round robin tie against Romania, Ivanovi? defeated Monica Niculescu 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 and then teamed with Jelena Jankovi? to win the deciding doubles rubber against the Romanian team 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(2). In the promotion playoff, Ivanovi? beat Renee Reinhard of the Netherlands 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 as Serbia advanced to the World Group II playoffs in April.
Ivanovi? was the top-seeded player at the Qatar Total Open in Doha for the first time in a Tier I tournament. She defeated Olga Govortsova in the second round 6-3, 6-1 but subsequently withdrew from the tournament because of an ankle injury suffered during that match. The following week at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, the third-seeded Ivanovi? lost in the quarterfinals to the eighth-seeded Dementieva 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
In March at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, the top-seeded Ivanovi? defeated Jankovi? in the semifinals 7-6(3), 6-3 before defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Ivanovi? was the second-seeded player but lost to Lindsay Davenport in the third round in straight sets.
Ivanovi? was the defending champion and second-seeded player at the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin. She lost, however, to Dementieva in the semifinals 6-2, 7-5 for the fourth time in four career matches. At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Ivanovi? was the top seed but lost in the second round to Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
Ivanovi? was the second-seeded player at the French Open. She defeated World No. 3 Jankovi? in the semifinals 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, guaranteeing that Ivanovi? would become the World No. 1, regardless of whether she won the final. Ivanovi? then went on to defeat Dinara Safina in the final, winning her first Grand Slam singles title.
At Wimbledon, Ivanovi? was the top-seeded player and defeated French veteran player Nathalie Dechy in the second round 6-7(2), 7-6(3), 10-8. The match took 3 hours, 24 minutes to play, with Ivanovi? saving two match points while trailing 5-4 in the second set and Dechy saving three match points in the third set before succumbing. Ivanovi? then lost in the third round to unseeded wildcard Zheng Jie of China, who was ranked World No. 133, 6-1, 6-4.
At the Canada Masters held in Montreal, Ivanovic was the top seed and received a bye in the first round, but fell in the third round to Austrian teen Tamira Paszek 6-2, 1-6, 6-2. Ivanovic told reporters after the match that she had been bothered by a sore thumb throughout the tournament, sustained two weeks prior to the event while practicing.
Ana will relinquish her hold on the World Number 1 officially on August 11 after holding on to the position for 9 consecutive weeks to fellow Serbian Jelena Jankovi? after a string of poor results and failure to defend her title at the East West Bank Classic in California.
At the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Ana was scheduled to meet 53rd Seed Mariya Koryttseva, from Ukraine in the first round. However, on August 10, Ivanovi? withdrew from the Olympics citing a recurrent thumb injury sustained during training after Wimbledon. Seeded number 1 at the event, Ana described the decision as 'one of the worst moments of her career'.
Due to Jelena Jankovic's defeat to Dinara Safina at the Summer Olympics, Ana reclaimed her number one spot on August 18, 2008 and was the top seeded player at the 2008 US Open.
At the U.S. Open Ivanovic poor form continued, losing to the unseeded qualifier ranked 187 places lower than her, Julie Coin in three sets. The defeat was the earliest by a top seed in the open era at the U.S. Open since Billie Jean King's third round loss to Julie Heldman in 1973. Because of her early loss, Ivanovic lost her number one spot to Serena Williams, going down to no. 3 in the world.
In her first match since the U.S. Open, at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Ivanovic was upset by Nadia Petrova of Russia in three sets, bringing her win-loss record since her maiden grand slam win at Roland Garros to 4-4. Ivanovic later told the press that she was 'just happy to be back injury-free' and that she needed to 'play more matches get back into rhythm'.
In her next tournament, the China Open in Beijing, Ivanovic beat world no. 18 Alizé Cornet of France 6-1, 7-6 in the secound round after receiving a first round bye, her first straight sets victory since her opening round win at Wimbledon. She was however defeated in a tense three set match to Zheng Jie, 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.
At the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Ana played her first doubles match on the WTA Tour since June 2007, teaming up with Francesca Schiavone to defeat the Spanish/Russian pairing of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Elena Vesnina 7-6, 6-7, 10-5. Ana's poor form however continued in the singles category, losing to Slovak teenager Dominika Cibulková in the second round, 7-6 in the final set despite having two match points of her own at 5-4.
Ana will next fly to Switzerland compete in the last edition of the Zürich Open before flying to Austria to play in the Generali Ladies Linz.
WTA Tour finals (11)
Singles (10)
Wins (7)
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ITF Circuit titles (5)
Since Ivanovi?'s professional debut in August 2003 she won 5 ITF Titles. When she won her maiden title in 2005, she was the first WTA winner to have won in the final playing an opponent that she had already beaten before (In the Qualifying Round).
Singles performance timeline
"To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2008 Kremlin Cup in Moscow."
1 As of 2008, Doha is a Tier I tournament, replacing San Diego and Zurich.
2 Win/loss record does not include walkovers.
3 The WTA website erroneously omits Ivanovi?'s three Fed Cup singles wins (all on carpet) during January-February 2008. This is why this table shows three more wins in 2008, on carpet, and during her career than the WTA website.
WTA Tour career earnings
* - As of June 9 2008
External links
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Ana Ivanovic.
