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Ana Ivanovic (born November 6, 1987) is a Serbian tennis player ranked No. 1 in the world in 2008. As of November 11, 2013, she is no. 16 in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings for singles. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open, has qualified for the annual WTA Tour Championships twice (in 2007 and 2008) and has won the year-end WTA Tournament of Champions twice, in 2010 and 2011. Competing as a professional since 2003, she has won 12 WTA Tour singles titles, including one Grand Slam singles title. As of 2013, Ivanovic has career earnings of over 10.3 million US$. In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time, and was also included on the list of Top 100 Greatest Players Ever (male and female combined) by reporter Matthew Cronin.
Her first breakthrough came at the 2004 Zurich Open, where she qualified and narrowly was beaten by Venus Williams in the second round in two tiebreak sets. By the age of 18 Ivanovic had already defeated established players, such as Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva, and Amélie Mauresmo, the last of whom she defeated in the 2005 French Open on her way to reaching the quarterfinals of her second Grand Slam tournament. She also has defeated many other past and present top players including Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Dinara Safina, Martina Hingis, Jelena Janković, Agnieszka Radwańska, Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitová, and Victoria Azarenka. When on form Ivanovic is known for her aggressive style of play and impressive forehand, described by Petrova as, "the best out there."
Ivanovic's struggles since winning the 2008 French Open have been well documented. Since that victory she has endured an ongoing period of reduced success, failing to make a Grand Slam quarterfinal in 18 of her subsequent 19 Grand Slam tournaments, and dropping to world no. 65 in July 2010. Ivanovic's only Grand Slam quarterfinal since then came at the 2012 US Open, where she lost to eventual champion, Serena Williams.
vanovic was born in Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia. Ivanovic's mother Dragana, a lawyer, has been courtside during most of her matches. Her father Miroslav, a self-employed businessman, attended as many events as he possibly could. Ivanovic has a younger brother, Miloš, with whom she loved to play basketball.
Ivanovic first picked up a racket at the age of five after watching Monica Seles, a fellow Yugoslav, on television. She started her career after memorizing the telephone number of a local tennis clinic from an advertisement. During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, she was forced to train during the morning to avoid bombardments. Later, she admitted that she trained in an abandoned swimming pool in the winter, as no tennis facilities were available. When she was 15, Ivanovic spent four hours in a locker room crying after a defeat – the first that her new manager had witnessed. She thought that Dan Holzmann, the manager in question, would abandon her, thinking her not good enough to become a professional tennis player. He has remained her manager to this day.
Her first breakthrough came at the 2004 Zurich Open, where she qualified and narrowly was beaten by Venus Williams in the second round in two tiebreak sets. By the age of 18 Ivanovic had already defeated established players, such as Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva, and Amélie Mauresmo, the last of whom she defeated in the 2005 French Open on her way to reaching the quarterfinals of her second Grand Slam tournament. She also has defeated many other past and present top players including Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Dinara Safina, Martina Hingis, Jelena Janković, Agnieszka Radwańska, Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitová, and Victoria Azarenka. When on form Ivanovic is known for her aggressive style of play and impressive forehand, described by Petrova as, "the best out there."
Ivanovic's struggles since winning the 2008 French Open have been well documented. Since that victory she has endured an ongoing period of reduced success, failing to make a Grand Slam quarterfinal in 18 of her subsequent 19 Grand Slam tournaments, and dropping to world no. 65 in July 2010. Ivanovic's only Grand Slam quarterfinal since then came at the 2012 US Open, where she lost to eventual champion, Serena Williams.
vanovic was born in Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia. Ivanovic's mother Dragana, a lawyer, has been courtside during most of her matches. Her father Miroslav, a self-employed businessman, attended as many events as he possibly could. Ivanovic has a younger brother, Miloš, with whom she loved to play basketball.
Ivanovic first picked up a racket at the age of five after watching Monica Seles, a fellow Yugoslav, on television. She started her career after memorizing the telephone number of a local tennis clinic from an advertisement. During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, she was forced to train during the morning to avoid bombardments. Later, she admitted that she trained in an abandoned swimming pool in the winter, as no tennis facilities were available. When she was 15, Ivanovic spent four hours in a locker room crying after a defeat – the first that her new manager had witnessed. She thought that Dan Holzmann, the manager in question, would abandon her, thinking her not good enough to become a professional tennis player. He has remained her manager to this day.
