Ana Ivanovic is a former World No. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of April 13, 2009, she is ranked World No. 7 by the Women's Tennis Association. She is the reigning French Open singles champion and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open.
Ivanovic picked up a racket at the age of five after watching Monica Seles, a fellow Yugoslavian, on television during the 1992 French Open. She started her career after memorizing the number of a local tennis clinic from an advertisement . During her training she encountered the NATO bombings in 1999, forcing her to train in the morning to avoid them. Later, she admitted that she trained in an abandoned swimming pool in the winter, as there were no other facilities. When she was 15, Ivanovic spent four hours in the locker room crying after a defeat—the first that her new manager had watched—she thought that Dan Holzmann was going to drop her because she felt that she was not good enough to become a professional tennis player. He has stayed as her manager to this day.
Ivanovic reached the final of the Junior Wimbledon tournament in 2004, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko. In 2004, she went 26–0 on the ITF circuit, and won all five events that she entered, two of them as a qualifier. Her first professional breakthrough occurred in October 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. She followed that up with a quarterfinal showing in Luxembourg the next week.
Ivanovic 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. Ivanovic lost to Amélie Mauresmo at the Australian Open, Doha, and Key Biscayne, Florida. However, Ivanovic defeated Mauresmo in the third round of the French Open. Ivanovic eventually reached the quarterfinals of that tournament, where she lost to Petrova. Later in the year, Ivanovic reached the semifinals of the Zurich Open and Generali Ladies Linz, losing in both tournaments to Patty Schnyder.
Ivanovic started the year at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia 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 Amélie Mauresmo, this time in straight sets, before falling to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.
At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Ivanovic 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 the French Open. She progressed to the fourth round at Wimbledon but lost to eventual champion Mauresmo in straight sets.
Ivanovic made her breakthrough in August when she defeated former World No. 1 Martina Hingis in the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. 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 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, Ivanovic 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 sets. Finishing her year at the Gaz de France Stars in Hasselt, Belgium, she lost to Dutch player Michaëlla Krajicek.
Ivanovic also played nine tournaments in doubles in 2006, teaming with Maria Kirilenko and Sania Mirza. Ivanovic and Kirilenko made two semifinals and a final; they ended the year at number 17 in the annual Race to the Championships. Ivanovic herself finished the year ranked World No. 14 and in the doubles, she finished at World No. 51.
Ivanovic's first three tournaments of the year were in Australia. Starting with the Mondial Hardcourts in Gold Coast, she fell to Shahar Pe'er in the quarterfinals. At the Medibank International in Sydney, she again lost in the quarterfinals, this time to Nicole Vaidišová. Seeded 13th at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Ivanovic defeated Polish player Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round but lost in the third round to Vera Zvonareva, 6–1, 6–2. Immediately after this tournament, she announced via her official website that she had terminated the services of her coach, David Taylor.
In Tokyo for the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open, Ivanovic defeated Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova to reach her third career final, but then lost to Martina Hingis.
Ivanovic lost to Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals of the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp. She then played one Tier II and three Tier I events in the United States. At the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, she was defeated in the fourth round by Sybille Bammer. Yaroslava Shvedova then defeated Ivanovic in the second round of the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. Beginning her clay court season, Ivanovic played the Tier II Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, where she defeated Jankovic in the quarterfinals before falling to Tatiana Golovin in the semifinals. The following week, she made her first appearance at the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, losing to Zvonareva in the third round.
Ivanovic then returned to Europe to play two clay court tournaments in preparation for the French Open. In Berlin at the Qatar Telecom German Open, she won her first Tier I clay court title, defeating World No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. However, Ivanovic injured her ankle during the final, which forced her to withdraw from the Tier I 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.
Ivanovic had a six-match winning streak heading into the French Open and 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, Ivanovic 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, Ivanovic 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 match in straight sets. Later on, Ivanovic admitted that the idea of being in the final of a Grand Slam tournament overwhelmed her.
With her clay court season over, Ivanovic played the Ordina Open on grass in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, losing in the quarterfinals to Daniela Hantuchová. At Wimbledon, Ivanovic defeated World No. 9 Nadia Petrova in the fourth round and saved three match points to defeat Vaidišová in the quarterfinals 4–6, 6–2, 7–5. In the semifinals, three-time former Wimbledon champion Venus Williams defeated Ivanovic in straight sets.
A persistent knee injury sustained at Wimbledon caused Ivanovic to withdraw from Serbian Fed Cup competition with Slovakia and two lead up events to the US Open. She returned to the tour at the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California, saving two match points in the semifinals before defeating Jankovic 4–6, 6–3, 7–5. In the final, Ivanovic defeated Petrova to win the fourth singles title of her career, which increased her ranking to a career high of World No. 4.
Ivanovic 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 Ivanovic's first three matches at the US 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.
Ivanovic then returned to Europe for three tournaments. At the Tier II Luxembourg Championships, Ivanovic qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships as she reached the semifinals. In the final, Ivanovic rallied from 6–3, 3–0 down to defeat Hantuchová in two hours and 25 minutes. This was her fifth career title. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Ivanovic lost to Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko in the second round 6–2, 1–6, 6–3. Playing at what Ivanovic considers her home event, the Tier I Zurich Open, she lost to Golovin in the second round 6–3, 6–1.
To end the year, Ivanovic played the Sony Ericsson 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 three-set match and Hantuchová in straight sets. Sharapova then defeated Ivanovic in the final match of the round robin 6–1, 6–2. Because she finished second in her group, Ivanovic played World No. 1 Henin in the semifinals, which the Belgian won 6–4, 6–4.
Ivanovic finished the year with a career-high ranking of World No. 4, 14 points behind Jankovic.
Ivanovic began the year at the Medibank International in Sydney, losing to Justine Henin in the semifinals in three sets. As the fourth seed at the Australian Open, Ivanovic defeated Venus Williams for the first time in her career in the quarterfinals before losing to Maria Sharapova in a straight sets in final. Her ranking rose to World No. 2 as a result of her performance at the tournament, the highest of her career at the time.
Ivanovic at the 2008 Australian Open
In Serbia's Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I D round robin tie against Poland in Budapest, Ivanovic defeated Urszula Radwanska in straight sets. In Serbia's second round robin tie against Romania, Ivanovic defeated Monica Niculescu and then teamed with Jelena Jankovic to win the deciding doubles rubber against the Romanian team 2–6, 7–6(3), 7–6(2). In the promotion playoff, Ivanovic beat Renee Reinhard of the Netherlands, as Serbia advanced to the World Group II playoffs in April.
Ivanovic was the top-seeded player at the Qatar Total Open in Doha but withdrew from the tournament after her second round match because of an ankle injury. The following week at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Ivanovic lost in the quarterfinals to Elena Dementieva in three sets . In March, Ivanovic defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final of the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California but lost to Lindsay Davenport in the third round of the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open iin Key Biscayne, Florida the following week.
Ivanovic started her clay court season as defending champion at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin. She lost to Dementieva for the fourth time in four career matches in the semifinals 6-2, 7-5. At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, top seeded Ivanovic lost in the second round to a bulgarian qualifier, Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Ivanovic was the second-seeded player at the French Open. She defeated World No. 3 Jankovic in the semifinals in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, guaranteeing that Ivanovic would become the World No. 1, regardless of whether she won the final. Ivanovic then went on to defeat Dinara Safina in the final, winning her first Grand Slam singles title 6-4, 6-3.
At Wimbledon, Ivanovic 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 Ivanovic saving two match points while trailing 5–4 in the second set and Dechy saving three match points in the third set before succumbing. Ivanovic then lost in the third round to unseeded wildcard Zheng Jie of China, who was ranked World No. 133, 6–1, 6–4.
The summer hardcourt season started with a third round loss at the Rogers Cup in Montrealfrom Tamira Paszek 6-2, 1-6, 6-2. Ivanovic, bothered by a sore thumb sustained during practice two weeks before Montreal, withdrew from the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. This caused her to lose her World No. 1 ranking to Jankovic. The injury also caused her to withdraw from the Summer Olympics in Beijing, with Ivanovic describing the withdrawal as "one of the worst moments of her career". Ivanovic, having reclaimed her World No. 1 ranking on August 18, was the top-seeded player at the US Open. She lost in the second round to qualifier Julie Coin 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, which was the earliest loss by a top seeded player at the US Open since the 1973 tournament.
In her first match after the US Open, which was the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Ivanovic was defeated by Nadia Petrova of Russia in three sets 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, bringing her win-loss record since the French Open 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".
Ivanovic beat World No. 18 Alizé Cornet of France in the second round of the China Open in Beijing before losing to Zheng Jie in the quarterfinals in three sets. At the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Ivanovic was upset by Slovak teenager Dominika Cibulková in the second round 7-6, 2-6, 6-4. In the last edition of the Zurich Open in Switzerland, Ivanovic won back-to-back matches for the first time since Wimbledon. However, in her sixth semifinal of the year, Ivanovic lost to Venus Williams 4–6, 6–3, 6–4. At the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria, Ivanovic reached her first WTA Tour final since the French Open and went on to defeat second-seeded Vera Zvonareva6-2, 6-1.
At the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar, Ivanovic was the fourth seed. In her first round robin match, she was defeated by World No. 1 Jankovic 6–3, 6–4. Her next match was against Zvonareva, to whom she lost 6–3, 6–7(5), 6–4. She withdrew from her final match against Kuznetsova because of a virus.
Ivanovic started the year by playing two tournaments in Australia. At the Brisbane International, she defeated Roberta Vinci in the second round 6–7(4), 7–5, 6–1 after saving two match points in the second set. Ivanovic then lost to former World No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo 6–3, 6–2. At the Australian Open, Ivanovic was seeded fifth and won her first two matches in straight sets before losing to Russian Alisa Kleybanova in the third round 7–5, 6–7(5), 6–2.
Ivanovic then took part in Serbia's Fed Cup win in the World Group II tie against Japan. She defeated Ai Sugiyama in straight sets in the first singles rubber and Ayumi Morita in straight sets in the fourth singles rubber.
At the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Premier 5 event on the tour, she lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinals 6–4, 6–4.
She began working with coach Craig Kardon in February after parting with former coach Sven Groeneveld.
Ivanovic was the defending champion at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, the first Premier Mandatory event of the year. She defeated 12th-seeded Flavia Pennetta in the fourth round 6–4, 4–6, 6–4. Her quarterfinal opponent, Sybile Bammer then withdrew from the tournament because of injury. Ivanovic defeated unseeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the semifinals but lost to Vera Zvonareva in a final plagued by wind, 7-6, 6-2. At the Premier Mandatory Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Ivanovic lost in the third round to Agnes Szavay 6–4, 4–6, 6–1.
In April, Ivanovic took part in the Serbia's Fed Cup World Group Play-offs against Spain. She defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 3–6, 6–1, 6–2 in her only match to help Serbia gain promotion to the World Group with a 4–0 win.
At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, fifth seeded Ivanovic defeated Italian Francesca Schiavone in her opening round. She was defeated by the 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round, 6–1, 3–6, 6–4, throwing away a 4–0 lead in the third set. She withdrew from Madrid.
No comments:
Post a Comment