Ana Ivanović
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| Image:AnaIvanovicCropped.JPG | ||
| Country | Image:Flag of Serbia.svg Serbia | |
| Residence | Basel, Switzerland | |
| Date of birth | November 6 1987 | |
| Place of birth | Belgrade, Serbia, then SFR Yugoslavia | |
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | |
| Weight | 73 kg (160 lb/11.5 st) | |
| Turned Pro | August 17, 2003 | |
| Plays | Right; Two-handed backhand | |
| Career Prize Money | $3,115,157 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 175-60 | |
| Career titles: | 5 WTA, 5 ITF | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 4 (August 13, 2007) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | 3R (2005, 2007) | |
| French Open | F (2007) | |
| Wimbledon | SF (2007) | |
| U.S. Open | 4R (2007) | |
| Doubles | ||
| Career record: | 19-22 | |
| Career titles: | 0 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 50 (September 25, 2006) | |
|
Infobox last updated on: November 8, 2007. | ||
Ana Ivanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Ана Ивановић, pronounced [ˈana iˈvaːnɔviʨ], listen born November 6, 1987 in Belgrade) is a Serbian professional tennis player. She is currently ranked fourth in the world on the WTA tour, and is the second ranked Serbian player, behind Jelena Janković. In June 2007, she reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open, losing to Justine Henin; this was followed by a semi-final appearance at Wimbledon, and a run to the semi-finals of the 2007 WTA Tour Championships, defeated once again by Justine Henin.
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[edit] Personal life
Ana's parents support her career. Ana's mother, Dragana, a lawyer, attends her daughter's matches all season along with Ana's father, Miroslav, who is a self-employed businessman. Ana has a younger brother Miloš, with whom she loves to play basketball.[1] Other hobbies include shopping, watching movies and playing Su Do Ku. Ivanović's uncle is a former footballer and now a coach. Her inspiration to begin playing was Monica Seles, and she also admires Roger Federer.
On September 8, 2007, Ivanović has become a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia, along side Aleksandar Đorđević and Emir Kusturica, and will take a special interest in the fields of education and child protection. Ivanović, who is expected to visit schools in Serbia in the coming months, added: "I'm also looking forward to going into the classroom and meeting many kids."[2]
[edit] Popularity With The Media
During Ana's great 2007 season, she has been credited for her marketable looks and has appeared in multiple advertisements, one of these includes 'Never Miss A Shot', an advert sponsoring Sony Ericsson, which also starred WTA player Daniela Hantuchova. According to Ana's site she has been placed in the top 99 women of 2008 by Askmen.
[edit] Head-To-Head Records
Ana has mostly positive head-to-head records against players in the top ten, excluding the Williams sisters and Justine Henin. Ana's head-to-head records include Ivanovic-Sharapova : 2-2, Ivanovic-Kuznetsova : 4-1, Ivanovic-Jankovic : 4-1, Ivanovic-Chakvetadze : 4-3, and Ivanovic-Hantuchova : 2-1. Many of Ana's head-to-head records have improved prior to her 2007 season.
[edit] Playing Style
Ana is an offensive baseliner. Her game relies heavily on the power, depth and placement of her forehand strokes, producing lots of winners through penetrating, flat shots, with the occasional spice of topspin. Her net play is not used as often, but her volleys are generally well executed, as are her drop shots. Her two-handed backhand is solid, but given sufficient time, she usually reverts to an inside-out forehand or a one-handed slice backhand instead. She has a huge but inconsistent serve, although she has been known for hitting aces on her second serve; she has won one-sided matches with a first serve percentage of below 40% but makes it up through her well-timed aces. In spite of her height Ana has good court coverage and has been noticeably working on her fitness, which has highly improved her movement around the court. Ana often describes her own playing as "point by point", a mindset that has provided memorable comebacks in matches that seemed to be lost. On the other hand, her performances suffer with ups and downs on her level of playing from one match to another, and not rarely on the same one. Ana also tends to show difficulty in adapting and changing her strategy when not in control of the game. Overall, her style is suitable for all surfaces. Ana prefers to play on clay courts.
[edit] Career
Ivanović started her promising career at the age of 5, after memorizing the number of a local tennis clinic from an ad on TV. Ivanović was inspired by the performances of Monica Seles, a fellow Yugoslavian/Serbian at Roland Garros. 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, Ana 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.
Ivanović is good friends with doubles partner Maria Kirilenko, as well as other professional tennis players Daniela Hantuchová, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sanja Ančić and fellow Serbian Novak Đoković.
[edit] 2004: Professional Debut
She 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 challenger circuit, and won all 4 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 tremendous 3 set battle with then-ranked Number 27 Tatiana Golovin. She followed that up with a quarterfinal showing in Luxembourg the following week.
[edit] 2005: Maiden Title
In 2005 Ivanović burst onto the scene by winning her first career singles title, as a qualifier, in Canberra, Australia, by defeating Melinda Czink in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1. Her ranking continued to rise after impressive wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva, all (at the time) Top 10 players. She lost to Amélie Mauresmo in the Australian Open, Doha, and Miami, but later on she gained her revenge when she scored her biggest win as she knocked out the local favorite and 3rd seed in the 2005 French Open's third round, before her tournament came to an end in the Quarterfinals after an encounter with Russia's Nadia Petrova. Later on in the year, injury sidelined her from moving further up the rankings, but she showed signs of great form in the Zurich Open and Linz, by making the semi-finals in both, though she lost to Patty Schnyder at both tournaments. Her great year saw her end at Number 16 in the rankings. Ivanović said that she "hope[s] to be in the Top 10 next year."
[edit] 2006: Solid Season
Ivanović started off 2006 by playing at the Hopman Cup with fellow Serbian Novak Đoković where the pair narrowly missed the final. To start off her WTA year she played in Sydney where she once again defeated Mauresmo, this time in straight sets, before falling to an in-form Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.
She 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 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 in Bali and Venus Williams in Luxembourg Ivanović 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, before losing to Maria Sharapova in two tight sets. To finish off her year she had a disappointing run in Hasselt, Belgium, as she lost to Dutch player Michaëlla Krajicek.
Ivanović also played 9 tournaments in doubles this year, teaming up with Maria Kirilenko and Sania Mirza. Ivanović and Kirilenko made 2 semi-finals and a final; they ended the year at number 17 in the annual 'Race to the Championships.'
Ivanović 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.
[edit] 2007: Top 5 Debut
Ivanović's first tournament was at the Mondial Hardcourts, in Gold Coast, falling to Shahar Pe'er 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Her next tournament was the Sydney Medibank International. After defeating Australian Casey Dellacqua, she beat Nadia Petrova in straight sets, before losing, in the quarterfinals again, to an in-form Nicole Vaidišová 6-4, 6-2.
Ivanović entered the 2007 Australian Open seeded 13th. She defeated American Vania King, losing only two games, and survived a three set match against Polish player Agnieszka Radwańska, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Ivanović faced No. 22 Vera Zvonareva in the third round, but fell in straight sets 6-1, 6-2. Immediately after the 2007 Australian Open, Ivanović announced via her official website that she has terminated the services of her former coach, David Taylor. She is currently coached by Sven Gröenefeld.
At the 2007 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan, Ivanović made her third final, defeating Shenay Perry in the first round, Mara Santangelo in the second, Jelena Janković in the quarterfinal, and Maria Sharapova (who retired while trailing by a set) in the semifinal. Ivanović lost 6-4, 6-2 to Martina Hingis. Soon after she left for Antwerp where she made the quarterfinals, eventually losing to finalist Kim Clijsters. Ivanović then packed her bags for America, where she participated in the Indian Wells tournament. She quickly made the fourth round, dropping only 6 games in her first two matches against Vania King and Alicia Molik, but in the fourth round she was upset by Sybille Bammer.
Her next event was Miami, where she was upset by Yaroslava Shvedova in the second round. The following week was her first tournament on green clay at Amelia Island. After an opening round scare against China's Peng Shuai, where Ivanović won 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, Ana defeated Nathalie Dechy and Jelena Janković, before falling to Tatiana Golovin, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. In her first appearance at the Family Circle Cup, she lost to Vera Zvonareva in the third round.
Ivanović was then off to Barcelona, to prepare herself for the Red Clay swing. Ivanović started off in Berlin for the 2007 Qatar Telecom German Open Championships, where she won her first Tier I clay court title. She was in fantastic form, beating Patty Schnyder and later on World Number 3, Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) in the final - during which she hurt her ankle, which forced her to withdraw from Rome. The win propelled her in the WTA Rankings to her first top 10 entry at No. 8.
Ana then headed into the 2007 French Open full of confidence and on a 6 match winning streak. She continued this streak to 9, defeating her first 3 opponents with the loss of only 9 games. Her fourth round encounter with Anabel Medina Garrigues, resulted in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win. On her second quarterfinal at Roland Garros, Ana defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-0, 3-6, 6-1. Ana headed into her first Grand Slam semi-final against Russian Maria Sharapova, who she defeated 6-2, 6-1. Her opponent for the final would be 3 time winner Justine Henin, who had defeated the likes of Serena Williams and Jelena Janković. She ended up losing 6-1, 6-2 in an error strewn match. Later on, Ivanović admitted that the idea of being in the final of a Grand Slam overwhelmed her.
Ana next played the Ordina Open, losing in the quarter finals to Daniela Hantuchová. Ivanović then headed into Wimbledon. After some difficult opening rounds against Melinda Czink, Meilen Tu and Aravane Rezaï, Ana was up against World Number 9, Nadia Petrova. Ivanović won in a rain interrupted match 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. In the quarterfinals, Ivanović saved three match points to defeat Czech Nicole Vaidišová 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Ivanović played Venus Williams in the semifinals. The three-time former champion Williams came out on top 6-2, 6-4 to end Ivanović's Wimbledon hopes.
A pestering knee injury, sustained at Wimbledon, required Ana to withdraw from Serbian Fed Cup competition with Slovakia, and two lead up events to the US Open; Stanford and San Diego[3]. Ivanović made her awaited return to the tour at the East West Bank Classic in Carson. She swept through the opening three rounds defeating the likes of Ashley Harkleroad, Lucie Šafářová and former doubles partner Maria Kirilenko. In the semi-finals Ana was up against country woman Jelena Janković, for the third time that year. Ivanović saved two match points to win the match 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. In the final Ana played Nadia Petrova and won her fourth title of her career, 7-5 6-4, which propelled her to a new career high ranking of 4 in the world. Ivanović next participated in the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada. The year prior she had won the tournament, however her title defence only lasted 65 minutes as she lost to Chinese qualifier Yan Zi 6-3, 6-1.
Ivanović went in to the U.S. Open with high hopes, but ended up on the "difficult side" of the draw. Ivanović swept through her opening three rounds, dropping only ten games, though the fourth round was not as easy. Ivanović was up against six time slam champion Venus Williams. She lost 6-4, 6-2.
Ivanović made her Autumn debut at the Tier II Luxembourg Championships. She defeated Tatiana Golovin and Vera Zvonareva, dropping nine games between the two. By making the semifinals, Ivanović qualified for the 2007 WTA Tour Championships. Ivanović again came back from the brink of defeat in the final, against Daniela Hantuchová. The two hour and 25 minute match saw Ana rally from 3-6, 0-3 down, to win her fifth career title 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 and cement her spot in the top five.
After a quick flight to Stuttgart, Germany, Ana began her campaign for another title. Ana defeated Patty Schnyder 6-0, 6-2 in 47 minutes in the first round. Ana seemed a strong favourite against Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko, though she succumbed to the 21-year old 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.
Playing at what Ana considered as her home event, the Zürich Open, where she was fifth seeded, she received a first round bye. Awaiting Ivanović in the second round was fellow teenager Tatiana Golovin. Ana was only able to win 4 games, losing 6-3, 6-1.
To conclude her fantastic year, Ivanović played at 2007 WTA Tour Championships, receiving an invite after finishing in the world's top eight. Seeded fourth and assigned to the Red Group in round robin, she defeated world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova in a close three setter; 6-1, 4-6, 7-5. In her second round-robin match Ivanović defeated friend Daniela Hantuchová, 6-2, 7-6(9) after a marathon tiebreak, and then faced a resurgent Maria Sharapova to decide the group winner; with Sharapova triumphing 6-1, 6-2 after a series of uncharacteristic errors from Ivanović and a great show of brilliance from the Russian. Ivanović played World No. 1 Justine Henin in the semi-finals of the Championships, and was beaten after a hard-fought match, 6-4, 6-4.
Ivanović finished the year with a career-high ranking of No.4 in the world, a mere 14 points behind compatriot Jelena Janković. She had secured the spot after a leap of 10 ranks from the 2006 year-end, having been outside the Top 15 in as recently as May.
[edit] 2008: Superpower's Rise?
Ivanovic started the 2008 season by participating in an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong, where she was seeded #1. In her quarterfinal match, she lost to Elena Dementieva in three sets 4-6, 6-1, 3-6. After the loss, she entered the Silver Group, a competition between all the first matches losers. She was favored to win that competition, however, she lost to no. 45 Shuai Peng 1-6, 3-6.
Ivanović's next tournament of 2008 will be at the Sydney Medibank International. The tournament will welcome 12 of the world's top 15 players, apart from Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters.
[edit] Grand Slam singles finals
[edit] Runner-up (1)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 2007 | French Open | Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Justine Henin | 6-1, 6-2 |
[edit] WTA Tour finals (7)
[edit] Singles
[edit] Wins (5)
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| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | 15 January, 2005 | Canberra, Australia | Hard | Image:Flag of Hungary.svg Melinda Czink | 7-5, 6-1 |
| 2. | 21 August, 2006 | Montréal, Canada | Hard | Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg Martina Hingis | 6-2, 6-3 |
| 3. | 13 May, 2007 | Berlin, Germany | Clay | Image:Flag of Russia.svg Svetlana Kuznetsova | 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) |
| 4. | 12 August, 2007 | Los Angeles, USA | Hard | Image:Flag of Russia.svg Nadia Petrova | 7-5, 6-4 |
| 5. | 30 September, 2007 | Luxembourg City, Luxembourg | Hard (i) | Image:Flag of Slovakia.svg Daniela Hantuchová | 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 |
[edit] Runners-up (2)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | 4 February, 2007 | Tokyo, Japan | Carpet | Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg Martina Hingis | 6-4, 6-2 |
| 2. | 9 June, 2007 | French Open, France | Clay | Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Justine Henin | 6-1, 6-2 |
[edit] Doubles
[edit] Runner-up (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | 19 June, 2006 | 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands | Grass | Image:Flag of Russia.svg Maria Kirilenko | Image:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Yan Zi & Image:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Zheng Jie | 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 |
[edit] ITF Circuit titles (5)
Since her 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).
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | February 22, 2004 | Image:Flag of Spain.svgMallorca | Clay | Image:Flag of Serbia and Montenegro.svg Ana Timotić | 6-1, 6-1 |
| 2. | May 2, 2004 | Image:Flag of Japan.svgGifu | Carpet | Image:Flag of South Korea.svg Mi-Ra Jeon | 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 |
| 3. | May 9, 2004 | Image:Flag of Japan.svgFukuoka | Carpet | Image:Flag of Slovakia.svg Jarmila Gajdošová | 6-2, 6-74, 7-64 |
| 4. | September 12, 2004 | Image:Flag of Italy.svgFano | Clay | Image:Flag of Romania.svg Delia Sescioreanu | 6-2, 6-4 |
| 5. | September 26, 2004 | Image:Flag of Georgia.svgBatumi | Hard | Image:Flag of Russia.svg Anna Chakvetadze | 6-3, 6-3 |
[edit] 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 2007 WTA Tour Championships tournament, which ended on November 11, 2007.
| Tournament | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | Career SR | Career Win-Loss | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slams | ||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | 3R | 2R | 3R | 0 / 3 | 5-3 | |||||||
| French Open | A | A | QF | 3R | F | 0 / 3 | 12-3 | |||||||
| Wimbledon | A | A | 3R | 4R | SF | 0 / 3 | 10-3 | |||||||
| U.S. Open | A | LQ | 2R | 3R | 4R | 0 / 3 | 6-3 | |||||||
| Grand Slam Win-Loss | 0-0 | 0-0 | 9-4 | 8-4 | 16-4 | N/A | 33-12 | |||||||
| Olympic Games | ||||||||||||||
| Summer Olympics | NH | A | NH | NH | NH | 0 / 0 | 0-0 | |||||||
| Year-End Championship | ||||||||||||||
| WTA Tour Championships | A | A | A | A | SF | 0 / 1 | 2-2 | |||||||
| WTA Tier I tournaments | ||||||||||||||
| Doha1 | A | A | A | 2R | A | 0 / 1 | 1-1 | |||||||
| Indian Wells | A | A | A | QF | 4R | 0 / 2 | 5-2 | |||||||
| Miami Masters | A | A | QF | 4R | 2R | 0 / 3 | 6-3 | |||||||
| Charleston | A | A | A | A | 3R | 0 / 1 | 1-1 | |||||||
| Berlin | A | A | 1R | 1R | W | 1 / 3 | 6-2 | |||||||
| Rome | A | A | 3R | A | A | 0 / 1 | 2-1 | |||||||
| Toronto/Montréal | A | A | 3R | W | 2R | 1 / 3 | 7-12 | |||||||
| Tokyo | A | A | A | 2R | F | 0 / 2 | 5-2 | |||||||
| Moscow | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0-0 | |||||||
| Career Statistics | ||||||||||||||
| Tournaments played | 1 | 5 | 16 | 19 | 19 | N/A | 60 | |||||||
| Runner-up | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | N/A | 2 | |||||||
| Tournaments Won | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | N/A | 5 | |||||||
| Hardcourt Win-Loss | 1-1 | 6-3 | 26-8 | 24-11 | 23-11 | N/A | 80-33 | |||||||
| Clay Win-Loss | 0-0 | 0-1 | 9-4 | 4-3 | 16-3 | N/A | 23-10 | |||||||
| Grass Win-Loss | 0-0 | 0-1 | 2-1 | 5-2 | 6-2 | N/A | 13-6 | |||||||
| Carpet Win-Loss | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3-1 | 2-2 | 6-2 | N/A | 11-5 | |||||||
| Overall Win-Loss | 1-1 | 6-5 | 40-14 | 35-18 | 51-18 | N/A | 135-583 | |||||||
| Win % | 50% | 55% | 74% | 66% | 74% | N/A | 70% | |||||||
| Year End Ranking | 705 | 97 | 16 | 14 | 4 | N/A | N/A | |||||||
- 1 As of 2008, Doha is a Tier I tournament, replacing San Diego and Zurich.
- 2 Win/loss record does not include walkovers.
- 3 If ITF women's circuit (Hardcourt: 5-0; Clay: 21-4; Carpet: 16-0) participations are included, her overall win-loss record stands at 177-62.
- LQ = lost in the qualifying tournament.
- A = did not participate in the tournament.
[edit] WTA Tour career earnings
| Year | Majors | WTA wins | Total wins | Earnings ($) | Money list rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,630 | 732 |
| 2004 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58,010 | 166 |
| 2005 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 472,547 | 29 |
| 2006 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 671,616 | 20 |
| 2007* | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1,960,354 | 4 |
| Career* | 0 | 5 | 5 | 3,165,157 | 59 |
- * - As of November 8
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Ana Ivanovic – the fastest mover in the world (PDF). Ana Ivanovic.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-13.
- ^ "Ivanovic Becomes UNICEF Ambassador", WTA Tour, 2007-09-08. Retrieved on 2007-09-08. (English)
- ^ Ana's diary - I have to rest for two weeks, July 12, 2007
[edit] External links
- Official site (English) (Serbian)
- Ana Ivanović profile on the WTA Tour's official website
- Fed Cup profile
- News, photos and videos Ana Ivanovic
- Men's Vogue interview
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Maria Sharapova | WTA Most Improved Player 2005 | Succeeded by Jelena Janković |
| Preceded by Kim Clijsters | US Open Series Winner 2006 | Succeeded by Maria Sharapova |
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