Goran Ivanišević (; born in Split on 13 September 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Croatia. He is best remembered for being the only person to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001, having previously been runner-up at the championships in 1992, 1994 and 1998. Ivanišević is famous for his strong serve, which is considered among the greatest to date. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 2 (behind Pete Sampras) in 1994. He is the current reigning Legends under 45 French Open doubles Champion.

Career

Ivanišević turned professional in 1988 and later that year, with Rüdiger Haas, won his first career doubles title in Frankfurt, but he was a better singles player and rarely played in doubles.

Ivanišević made his first significant impact on the tour in 1990, knocking Boris Becker out of the first round of the French Open men's singles; he went on to reach the quarter-finals. He was also, with Petr Korda, the runner-up in the French Open men's doubles. At that year's Wimbledon, Ivanišević reached the semi-finals, where he lost to Becker in four sets. Ivanišević also won his first tour singles title in 1990 at Stuttgart and helped Yugoslavia win the World Team Cup. He played in eight ties for Yugoslavia in the Davis Cup before quitting the team after the Croatian declaration of independence in 1991. Yugoslavia lost its subsequent tie against France 5-0.

Ivanišević quickly became known on the tour for his strong, attacking style of play and for an extremely powerful serve. For several years, he had more aces than anyone else on the tour. Capable of beating anyone in the world when at his very best, he was also known for occasional on-court temper tantrums—usually directed towards himself—and the volatility of the standard of his play. Ivanišević received death threats at the 1992 Australian Men's Hardcourt Championships. He went on to win the tournament.

In 1992, Ivanišević steamrolled his way to reach his first Wimbledon singles final, having defeated Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, and Pete Sampras in succession. In the final he faced Andre Agassi and was heavily favored to win; both players were attempting to win their first Grand Slam title. Agassi eventually won 6–7, 6–4, 6–4, 1–6, 6–4. In the 5th set, Goran had a break point on Agassi's serve at 3 all, but did not convert it. In the final game of the match, he served 2 double faults to start the game, even though he had 5 for the entire match before that. His ace count for the tournament (200+) at the time was the highest in the history of ATP. He served 39 aces that day, while Agassi had 37 for the entire tournament. It was a tough loss, but as he was only 20 years old, a bright future was predicted.
Later that summer at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Ivanišević won bronze medals in both singles and doubles representing Croatia, a state that had only recently declared independence. He also won four singles titles that year.

Ivanišević reached the Wimbledon final for the second time in 1994, where he was defeated by defending-champion Pete Sampras 7–6, 7–6, 6–0. Ivanišević reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 2 in July that year.

In 1995, Ivanišević won the Grand Slam Cup, beating Todd Martin in the final 7–6, 6–3, 6–4. At Wimbledon, Ivanišević lost in the semi-finals to Sampras 6–7, 6–4, 3–6, 6–4, 3–6.

In 1996 he won a career-best five singles titles. He reached the Grand Slam Cup final again, but this time lost to Becker in straight sets. Ivanišević also teamed with Iva Majoli to win the 1996 Hopman Cup for Croatia. That year Ivanišević also defeated Stefan Edberg to reach the semi-finals of the U.S. Open, his first Grand Slam semi-final away from Wimbledon; the match was the last Grand Slam match of Edberg's career. In the semifinals, Ivanisevic he fell again to Sampras, in four sets; Sampras would go on to defeat Michael Chang to win his fourth U.S. Open championship.

In 1998, Ivanišević reached his third Wimbledon final, facing Sampras once again. Although a heavy underdog, this time he pushed Sampras to five sets, before losing 7–6, 6–7, 4–6, 6–3, 2–6.

Ivanišević finished runner-up in the French Open men's doubles in 1999 (with Jeff Tarango). However for much of 1999, 2000, and 2001, he struggled with a shoulder injury and his performance and world ranking began to slide steadily.

By the summer of 2001, Ivanišević was ranked the World No. 125. This was not sufficient to earn him an automatic place in the main draw at Wimbledon but, given his past record as a three-time runner-up, he was awarded a wildcard for entry into the singles draw. He defeated former and future World #1 players Carlos Moya, Andy Roddick and Marat Safin to reach the semi-final, beating home favourite Tim Henman in a five set, rain-affected semi-final, setting-up a match with the previous year's runner-up and former US Open champion Patrick Rafter. It was Ivanišević's first singles final since 1998. In a match lasting just over three hours, Ivanišević defeated Rafter 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 9–7. Two months shy of his 30th birthday, Ivanišević became the lowest-ranked player and the first wildcard entry to win Wimbledon. To date, he is the only male entrant to have won a Grand Slam as a wildcard. His Wimbledon success was rated sixteenth at the list of 100 Greatest Sporting Moments by a British television programme.

Later that year he received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award.
The 2001 Wimbledon title was the last of Ivanišević's career. He temporarily retired later in 2001 due to shoulder surgery. He returned to tennis in 2004 but retired permanently after a third-round loss to Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon, held on the Centre Court, the scene of his greatest triumph.

In 2005, Ivanišević was a member of the Croatian team for the Davis Cup final against Slovakia in Bratislava, although he did not play. Croatia won the final 3–2.

In June 2006, he performed in the Calderstones Park tournament in Liverpool.

In November 2006, Ivanišević won the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions tournament in Frankfurt, defeating John McEnroe 7–6(12), 7–6(1).

In 2007 Roger Federer, seeking his 5th Wimbledon in a row and due to face Nadal in the final, practised with Goran Ivanišević. He said it helped him against Nadal:

Well, I mean, it's good to have hit at least half an hour with a lefty before the finals because I've played against six right handers. So, of course, it's hard to come into a match and you play a lefty. Especially on the returns, I always feel it. The entire points are played in a different manner. Where usually you go backhand cross‑court, with Rafa I have to go backhand long line. I asked Goran yesterday if he wanted to hit with me. He said, Sure, I'm around. I was very happy he did that.

Football

Ivanišević played football for the Croatian team Hajduk Split in 2001. Goran supports English team West Bromwich Albion. He became a fan after the Midland club's Great Escape from Premiership relegation in 2005 when they became the first club since the creation of the modern Premier League in 1992 to be bottom of the league at Christmas and avoid relegation., retrieved 27 December 2006. He wore an Albion shirt whilst warming up prior to the 2006 BlackRock Masters final.

Goran also participated in an exhibition match of the Croatian national team of 1998 versus the International football stars on 7 October 2002 in Zagreb. It was the last career match of Croatian midfielder and team captain Zvonimir Boban. Ivanišević scored the goal for 1–1 (the game ended 2–1 for the International stars).

Quotes

• "The trouble with me is that every match I play against five opponents: umpire, crowd, ball boys, court, and myself."

• "I wouldn't want to go to a sports psychiatrist, because when you're finished, you come out more crazy than you go in."

• "I still break rackets, but now I do it in a positive way."

• "My fines? I pay more fines than some guys' career prize money on the tour."

• "I think it's interesting, you have three movies in one match: horror, comedy, drama. It's fun. I enjoy it. I am like that. I don't like to change. And if I could choose, I would be the same again. Just me, and I like who I am."

• "In every game I play there are three players in me that could surface anytime, Good Goran, Bad Goran, Crazy Goran! They can all serve aces."

• "I have so many runner-up cups that I am thinking of starting my own tea shop."

• "I do not want that 'plate' again." - Referring to the runner-up trophy, coming into his fourth Wimbledon final having lost the previous three.

• "Today's players, they do not know how. If you are going to throw it, you break it. You have to show commitment." (on throwing rackets)

• "I'll go kill myself." (after losing the Wimbledon 1998 final against Pete Sampras)

• "I woke up at 2 and went back to sleep at 3, I woke at 4 and went back to sleep at 5, when I next woke, the Teletubbies were on TV, so I thought it must be time to get up." (on his night's sleep before the 2001 Final)

• "I don’t understand it. She was no. 1 in the world and she retires. She was such an unbelievable player and could have won more Grand Slams. I don't know why she did it. Maybe it's a woman thing. I don't understand women. It's very sad for tennis - a big loss." (Speaking about the sudden retirement decision of Justine Henin while at Number 1.)

• "It's just hitting; it's only 33 aces, that's not so good." - after his 1992 Wimbledon quarterfinal win against Stefan Edberg.

• "I said to God 'If I win this one, I don't care if I ever play again.' I guess he was listening." Commenting on his injury problems following his 2001 Wimbledon singles championship.

• "He might be the reigning champion, but I'm the undefeated champion." Talking about facing 2002 Wimbledon Champion Lleyton Hewitt. Ivanišević, the 2001 Wimbledon Champion, did not play Wimbledon in 2002 due to injury.

• "Now I can watch Croatia beat England." After his loss to Hewitt, Ivanišević said at least he could watch Croatia face England in the UEFA Euro 2004 tournament. The English crowd booed this; Croatia would lose the game.

Trivia

• In the 1993 US Open, Ivanišević won a third set tie-break against Daniel Nestor 20–18. This tied the record for the longest tie-break (in terms of points) ever played since the tie-break system was introduced in 1970. Ivanišević won another third set 20–18 tie-break in the 1997 Queen's Club semifinal against Greg Rusedski. Besides Ivanišević, only Björn Borg (1st round Wimbledon 1973 against Premjit Lall), Roger Federer (semifinal, Tennis Masters Cup 2004, against Marat Safin) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (first round Australian Open 2007 against Andy Roddick) have won such drawn out tie-breaks.

• Amongst other serving records, Ivanišević holds the record for most aces served in a year with 1477 in 1996. He also holds 3rd, 4th and 5th place on "most aces in a season" list (Ivo Karlović is 2nd).

• Because of his on-court temper outbursts (other than being left-handed as well), Ivanišević has often been likened to John McEnroe. In fact, Ivanišević himself said McEnroe was his idol. By coincidence, McEnroe played his last ATP Tour singles match against Ivanišević, at the 1992 Grand Slam Cup.

• In 2004, Ivanišević participated in a reality TV show called The Exchange Office, where he swapped jobs with road sweeper Alojz Pucek and cleaned streets in Zagreb. Reportedly, eyewitnesses who recognized Ivanišević were utterly shocked, and one even passed out.

• His career inspired the movie Wimbledon, which stars Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

Doubles: 2

Super 9/Masters Series finals

Singles: 7 (2-5)

Career titles

Singles (22)

Doubles (9)

ATP Tour runner-ups (37)

Singles (27)

Doubles (10)

Team titles (3)

• 1990 – World Team Cup winner with Yugoslavia

• 1996 – Hopman Cup winner with Croatia

• 2005 – Davis Cup winner with Croatia

Singles performance timeline

• A = did not participate in the tournament

• LQ = lost in the qualifying draw

• SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

Doubles performance timeline

See also

• List of Grand Slam Men's Singles champions

Video

• Wimbledon 2001 Final: Rafter Vs Ivanišević Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: October 30, 2007, Run Time: 195 minutes, ASIN: B000V02CT6.

Notes and references