Goran Ivanišević

 

Goran Ivanišević

Country	Croatia[1]
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Date of birth	September 13 1971 (1971--) (age 36)
Place of birth	Split, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	m ({{FORMATNUM:6 ft 4+1⁄2 in}})
Weight	81 kg (178 lb)
Turned Pro	1988
Retired	2004
Plays	Left; Two-handed backhand
Career Prize Money	$19,876,579
Singles
Career record:	599 - 333
Career titles:	22
Highest ranking:	2 (July 4, 1994)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (1989, 1994, 1997)
French Open	QF (1990, 1992, 1994)
Wimbledon	W (2001)
U.S. Open	SF (1996)
Doubles
Career record:	263 - 225
Career titles:	9
Highest ranking:	20 (January 6, 1992)

The title of this article contains the following characters: Š and Ć. Where they are unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Goran Ivanisevic.

Goran Šimun Ivanišević [ˈɡɔran ˈiʋaniːʃɛʋitɕ] (born in Split, September 13, 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 one of the greatest to date. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 2 (behind Pete Sampras) in 1994.

Career

Ivanišević was born in Croatia. He turned professional in 1988, and won his first career doubles title later that year in Frankfurt (with Rüdiger Haas).

Ivanišević made his first significant impact on the tennis world in 1990. In the French Open, he knocked-out Boris Becker in the first round of the men's singles and went on to reach the quarter-finals. Becker reportedly remarked about Ivanišević that "even God could not have played any better". He was also runner-up in the French Open men's doubles (with Petr Korda). A few weeks later at Wimbledon, Ivanišević made it all the way to the semi-finals, where he again met Becker and put up an impressive display before going down in four sets. Becker predicted after the match Ivanišević would be a future Wimbledon champion. Ivanišević also won his tour first singles title in 1990 at Stuttgart, and helped Yugoslavia win the World Team Cup.

Ivanišević quickly became known on the tour for his strong, attacking style of play and for an extremely powerful serve. For several years, he was the leading scorer of aces on the tour. A brilliant player, who was capable of beating anyone in the world when he was at his very best, he was also known for occasional on-court temper tantrums and, from time-to-time, for "tanking" in matches (particularly in final sets) and being blown away by opponents he was capable of beating.

Ivanišević lost in the second round at Wimbledon in 1991 and courted controversy during the championships by not only expressing his strong Croatian patriotic sentiments during the period of independence from Yugoslavia, but also urging the top women's player Monica Seles (a Serbia-born ethnic Hungarian) to publicly express her stance, which she refused to do.

In 1992 Ivanišević reached the Wimbledon singles final, where he faced Andre Agassi. Both up-and-coming stars were gunning for their first Grand Slam title. In a dramatic five-set encounter, it was Agassi who eventually won 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Later that summer, at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Ivanišević won Bronze Medals in both singles and doubles for the newly-independent nation of Croatia. He also won four singles titles that year.

Olympic medal record
Men’s Tennis
Bronze	1992 Barcelona	Singles
Bronze	1992 Barcelona	Doubles

Ivanišević reached the Wimbledon final for the second time in 1994, where he was defeated by defending-champion Pete Sampras in three sets, 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. Continuing his strong performances at the Wimbledon tournament, he would reach the semifinals that year, losing to Pete Sampras in a hard fought five set match, 7-6 4-6 6-3 4-6 6-3.

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. He set a tour record by serving 1,477 aces over the course of the season. Ivanišević also teamed-up with Iva Majoli to win the 1996 Hopman Cup for Croatia. Ivanišević would also reach his first Grand Slam semifinal other than Wimbledon at the U.S. Open that year, falling once again to Pete Sampras in four sets.

In 1998, Ivanišević reached his third Wimbledon final. He faced Sampras again and pushed him to five sets before losing a closely-fought contest 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. After three final defeats, many people wondered if the man often touted as a future Wimbledon winner would ever fulfill his promise.

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 steadily slide. He was widely acclaimed as the best player never to win a Grand Slam.

But then came the summer of 2001. Ivanišević was ranked the World No. 125. This was not good enough to earn him an automatic place in the main draw at Wimbledon but, given his past record as a three-time finalist, the organizers decided to give him a wildcard entry. Against all expectations, he powered his way through the draw to reach the final, setting-up a showdown with the previous year's runner-up and former US Open champion Patrick Rafter. (It was the first singles final which Ivanišević had qualified for since 1998.) In an epic struggle lasting three hours and one minute, Ivanišević out-lasted Rafter to win in five sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7. Just two months shy of his 30th birthday, Ivanišević became the lowest-ranked player and the first wildcard entry to win Wimbledon.^[2] His Wimbledon success was rated sixteenth at the list of 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.

Ivanišević received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2001.

The 2001 Wimbledon win proved to be the last of Ivanišević's career. He temporarily retired later in 2001 due to shoulder surgery, but remained listed at the bottom of the ATP's rankings. He returned to tennis in 2004, but retired permanently after a third-round loss to Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon. After the match, he again prominently displayed his Croatian heritage, this time by putting on a Croatia national football team jersey.

Over the course of his career Ivanišević won 22 top-level singles titles and 9 doubles titles.

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

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

In November 2006 Ivanišević made history again by winning the Frankfurt title, part of the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions, defeating a fit John McEnroe in 2 tight sets 7-6(12), 7-6(1). After the match, Ivanišević said “It’s always great to play John. He was my idol, and it is special to beat him.”

Football

Ivanišević has also played football for the Croatian team Hajduk Split in 2001.^[3] 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.^[4] He even warmed up in an Albion shirt prior to the 2006 BlackRock Masters final.^[5]

Goran also participated in a friendly match of the Croatian national team of 1998 versus the International football stars on October 7, 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 racquets, 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." - coming into his fourth Wimbledon final having lost the three others.
• "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 go kill myself" (after losing the Wimbledon 1998 final against Pete Sampras)

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 semi-final against Greg Rusedski. Besides Ivanišević, only Björn Borg (1st round Wimbledon 1973 against Premjit Lal), Roger Federer (semi-final, Tennis Masters Cup 2004, against Marat Safin) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (first round Australian open against Andy Roddick) have won such drawn out tie-breaks.

• Amongst other serving records, Goran holds the record for most aces served in a year with 1477 in the 1996 season.

• Due to his on-court temper outbursts, 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 the anime The Prince of Tennis, a player who mimics a pro's styles changes into him during a match.

• In 2004, Goran participated in a reality TV show called The Exchange Office, where he swapped jobs with road sweeper Alojz Pucek and swept streets in Zagreb. Reportedly, eyewitnesses who recognized Goran were utterly shocked, and one even passed out. ^[6]

• His 9-7 fifth set victory over Patrick Rafter in the final was the longest ever in Wimbledon history.

• First Wildcard entry to win Wimbledon.

• The film Wimbledon echoes Ivanišević's Wimbledon win.

Although a much loved character he was a notorious spitter on court which was very unpleasant to watch. Highlights of his 1998 5 set loss against Pete Sampras in the Wimbledon final were spoilt by the tv cameras showing this spitting during the change of ends when he was sitting down.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2001	Wimbledon	Patrick Rafter	6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7

Runner-ups (3)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1992	Wimbledon	Andre Agassi	6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
1994	Wimbledon	Pete Sampras	7-6 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-0
1998	Wimbledon	Pete Sampras	6-7 (2), 7-6 (9), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2

Grand Slam doubles finals (2)

Wins (0)

Runner-ups (2)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1990	French Open	Petr Korda	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	7-5, 6-3
1999	French Open (2)	Jeff Tarango	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	6-2, 7-5

Masters Series singles finals

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1992	Stockholm	Guy Forget	7-6(2), 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2
1993	Paris	Andrei Medvedev	6-4, 6-2, 7-6(2)

Runner-ups (5)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1993	Rome	Jim Courier	6-1, 6-2, 6-2
1993	Stockholm	Michael Stich	4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(3), 6-2
1994	Stockholm	Boris Becker	4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(4)
1995	Hamburg	Andrei Medvedev	6-3, 6-2, 6-1
1996	Miami	Andre Agassi	3-0 retired

ATP tour titles (31)

Singles wins (22)

Legend Grand Slam (1) Tennis Masters Cup (0) Grand Slam Cup (1) ATP Masters Series (2) ATP Tour (18)

Titles by Surface Hard (3) Grass (2) Clay (3) Carpet (14)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	July 16, 1990	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Guillermo Pérez-Roldán	6-7, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6
2.	June 17, 1991	Manchester, England	Grass	Pete Sampras	6-4, 6-4
3.	December 30, 1991	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Christian Bergström	1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4
4.	February 17, 1992	Stuttgart Indoor, Germany	Carpet	Stefan Edberg	6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
5.	October 5, 1992	Sydney Indoor, Australia	Hard (i)	Stefan Edberg	6-4, 6-2, 6-4
6.	October 26, 1992	Stockholm, Sweden	Carpet	Guy Forget	7-6(2), 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2
7.	September 13, 1993	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Andrei Cherkasov	6-2, 7-6(5)
8.	October 18, 1993	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Thomas Muster	4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(3)
9.	November 1, 1993	Paris, France	Carpet	Andrei Medvedev	6-4, 6-2, 7-6(2)
10.	October 10, 1994	Kitzbuhel, Austria	Carpet	Fabrice Santoro	6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
11.	August 1, 1994	Tokyo Indoor, Japan	Clay	Michael Chang	6-4, 6-4
12.	December 5, 1995	Grand Slam Cup, Munich	Carpet	Todd Martin	7-6, 6-3, 6-4
13.	January 29, 1996	Zagreb, Croatia	Carpet	Cédric Pioline	3-6, 6-3, 6-2
14.	February 12, 1996	Dubai, UAE	Hard	Albert Costa	6-4, 6-3
15.	February 26, 1996	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Marc Rosset	6-3, 7-6(3)
16.	March 4, 1996	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	6-4, 3-6, 6-3
17.	November 4, 1996	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	3-6, 6-1, 6-3
18.	January 27, 1997	Zagreb, Croatia	Carpet	Greg Rusedski	7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(6)
19.	February 24, 1997	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Sergi Bruguera	6-2, 6-2
20.	October 6, 1997	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Greg Rusedski	3-6, 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-3
21.	February 2, 1998	Split, Croatia	Carpet	Greg Rusedski	7-6(3), 7-6(5)
22.	June 25, 2001	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Patrick Rafter	6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7

Doubles (9)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	October 17, 1988	Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet	Rudiger Haas	Jeremy Bates Tom Nijssen	1-6, 7-5, 6-3
2.	February 4, 1991	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Omar Camporese	Cyril Suk Tom Nijssen	6-4, 7-6
3.	May 13, 1991	Rome, Italy	Clay	Omar Camporese	Laurie Warder Luke Jensen	6-2, 6-3
4.	June 17, 1991	Manchester, England	Grass	Omar Camporese	Andrew Castle Nick Brown	6-4, 6-3
5.	December 30, 1991	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Marc Rosset	Mark Kratzmann Jason Stoltenberg	7-6, 7-6
6.	September 11, 1995	Bordeaux, France	Hard	Saša Hiršzon	Henrik Holm Danny Sapsford	6-3, 6-4
7.	February 26, 1996	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Andrea Gaudenzi	Jakob Hlasek Guy Forget	6-4, 7-5
8.	January 27, 1997	Zagreb, Croatia	Carpet	Saša Hiršzon	Brent Haygarth Mark Keil	6-4, 6-3
9.	February 10, 1997	Dubai, UAE	Hard	Sander Groen	Sandon Stolle Cyril Suk	7-6, 6-3

ATP Tour runner-ups (37)

Singles runners-up (27)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	29 May, 1989	Florence, Italy	Clay	Horacio de la Peña	6-4, 6-3
2.	21 May, 1990	Umag, Yugoslavia	Clay	Goran Prpić	6-3, 4-6, 6-4
3.	27 August, 1990	Long Island, U.S.	Hard	Stefan Edberg	7-6, 6-3
4.	17 September, 1990	Bordeaux, France	Clay	Guy Forget	6-4, 6-3
5.	1 October, 1990	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet	John McEnroe	6-7, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4
6.	19 August, 1991	New Haven, U.S.	Hard	Petr Korda	6-4, 6-2
7.	10 February, 1992	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Omar Camporese	3-6, 6-3, 6-4
8.	6 July, 1992	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Andre Agassi	6-7(8), 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
9.	11 January, 1993	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Boris Becker	7-6(4), 4-6, 7-5
10.	17 May, 1993	Rome, Italy	Clay	Jim Courier	6-1, 6-2, 6-2
11.	1 November, 1993	Stockholm, Sweden	Carpet	Michael Stich	4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(3), 6-2
12.	21 February, 1994	Stuttgart Indoor, Germany	Carpet	Stefan Edberg	4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
13.	4 July, 1994	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Pete Sampras	7-6(2), 7-6(5), 6-0
14.	19 September, 1994	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Franco Davín	6-2, 6-4
15.	31 October, 1994	Stockholm, Sweden	Carpet	Boris Becker	4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(4)
16.	15 May, 1995	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Andrei Medvedev	6-3, 6-2, 6-1
17.	15 January, 1996	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Hard	Todd Martin	5-7, 6-3, 6-4
18.	26 February, 1996	Antwerp, Belgium	Carpet	Michael Stich	6-3, 6-2, 7-6(5)
19.	1 April, 1996	Miami, U.S.	Hard	Andre Agassi	3-0, ret.
20.	19 August, 1996	Indianapolis, U.S.	Hard	Pete Sampras	7-6(3), 7-5
21.	9 December, 1996	Grand Slam Cup, Munich	Carpet	Boris Becker	6-3, 6-4, 6-4
22.	17 February, 1997	Dubai, UAE	Hard	Thomas Muster	7-5, 7-6(3)
23.	16 June, 1997	London, England	Grass	Mark Philippoussis	7-5, 6-3
24.	6 July, 1998	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Pete Sampras	6-7(2), 7-6(9), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
25.	24 August, 1998	New Haven, U.S.	Hard	Karol Kučera	6-4, 5-7, 6-2
26.	12 October, 1998	Shanghai, China	Carpet	Michael Chang	4-6, 6-1, 6-2
27.	16 November, 1998	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	7-6(2), 7-6(5)

Doubles (10)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	October 2, 1989	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Diego Nargiso	Peter Ballauff Rudiger Haas	6-2, 6-7, 6-4
2.	February 19, 1990	Brussels, Belgium	Carpet	Balázs Taróczy	Emilio Sánchez Slobodan Živojinović	7-5, 6-3
3.	June 11, 1990	French Open, Paris	Clay	Petr Korda	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	7-5, 6-3
4.	August 20, 1990	New Haven, U.S.	Hard	Petr Korda	Jeff Brown Scott Melville	7-5, 7-6
5.	July 22, 1991	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Omar Camporese	Wally Masur Emilio Sánchez	2-6, 6-3, 6-4
6.	June 15, 1992	London, England	Grass	Diego Nargiso	John Fitzgerald Anders Järryd	7-6, 2-6, 16-14
7.	April 17, 1995	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Andrea Gaudenzi	Trevor Kronemann David Macpherson	6-2, 6-4
8.	August 7, 1995	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Saša Hiršzon	Brent Haygarth Kent Kinnear	6-4, 7-5
9.	June 7, 1999	French Open, Paris	Clay	Jeff Tarango	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	6-2, 7-5
10.	August 2, 1999	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Brian MacPhie	Byron Black Wayne Black	6-2, 7-6(4)

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

Tournament	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	Career SR	Career Win-Loss
Australian Open	A	QF	1R	3R	2R	A	QF	1R	3R	QF	1R	A	2R	A	2R	A	A	0 / 11	19-11
French Open	A	4R	QF	2R	QF	3R	QF	1R	4R	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	A	A	A	0 / 12	21-12
Wimbledon	1R	2R	SF	2R	F	3R	F	SF	QF	2R	F	4R	1R	W	A	A	3R	1 / 15	49-14
U.S. Open	A	2R	3R	4R	3R	2R	1R	1R	SF	1R	4R	3R	1R	3R	A	A	A	0 / 13	21-13
Grand Slam SR	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 4	1 / 2	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 1	1 / 51	N/A
Grand Slam Win-Loss	0-1	9-4	11-4	7-4	13-4	5-3	14-4	5-4	14-4	5-4	9-4	5-3	1-4	9-1	1-1	0-0	2-1	N/A	110-50
Indian Wells	A	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	SF	1R	1R	2R	2R	3R	A	1R	A	0 / 13	9-13
Miami	A	1R	2R	A	2R	1R	QF	A	F	QF	3R	2R	3R	2R	2R	A	2R	0 / 13	19-13
Monte Carlo	A	1R	2R	2R	A	1R	QF	SF	1R	A	1R	1R	1R	A	A	A