Ana Schweinsteiger (born 6 November 1987 and professionally known by her birth name Ana Ivanovic), is a Serbian former world No. 1 tennis player. She gained the top ranking in 2008 after she won the 2008 French Open, and held it for a total of 12 weeks. She was also the runner-up at the 2007 French Open[6] and the 2008 Australian Open, losing to Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova respectively.[7] She qualified for the year-end WTA Tour Championships three times, in 2007, 2008 and 2014[8] and won the year-end WTA Tournament of Champions twice, in 2010[9] and 2011.[10]
Ivanovic won 15 WTA Tour singles titles, and one Grand Slam singles title, the French Open in 2008. Additionally during this time, she earned over $15.5 million in prize money, which is the 25th highest in the all-time rankings. In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time[11] and was also included on the list of "Top 100 Greatest Players Ever" (male and female combined) by reporter Matthew Cronin.[12]
Her breakthrough came at the 2004 Zurich Open, where she qualified and was narrowly 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. Ivanovic was known for her aggressive style of play and impressive forehand, described by Petrova as "the best out there."[13]
Ivanovic's struggles after winning the 2008 French Open were well documented.[14] After that victory, she was overwhelmed by attention[15] and endured an ongoing period of reduced success, failing to make a Grand Slam quarterfinal in her subsequent 17 Grand Slam tournaments, and dropping as low as No. 65 in the rankings during July 2010.[16][17] In 2012, Ivanovic reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since her French Open victory at the 2012 US Open, thereby achieving the feat of reaching the quarterfinals at all four Grand Slam tournaments, and finished with a year-end top 15 ranking for the first time since 2008. In 2014, Ivanovic enjoyed a resurgence, beginning with her victory in the Auckland Open, her first singles title in over two years, before going on to win the Monterrey Open, Aegon Classic and the Pan Pacific Open. She qualified for competition in the WTA Tour Championships and secured a year-end ranking of No. 5, signifying her return to the world's elite.[18] In 2015, Ivanovic made it to the semifinals of a major for the first time in seven years at the French Open. In late December 2016, she announced her retirement, citing being no longer able to perform to a high standard as a major factor.[19]
Early life
Ivanovic (Ана Ивановић / Ana Ivanović,[20][21] pronounced [âna ǐʋanoʋitɕ, ǎː-] (
listen)) was born in Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia.
Her mother, Dragana, a lawyer, has been court-side 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.[22]
Ivanovic first picked up a racket at the age of five after watching Monica Seles, a fellow Yugoslav, on television.[4] 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. At 13 she moved to train in Basel, Switzerland, because of the better training facilities and coaching.[23] Manager Dan Holzmann was living in Basel, and Ana and her mother moved to Switzerland when she signed an agreement with the Swiss entrepreneur.[24]
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 would abandon her, thinking she wouldn't be good enough to become a professional tennis player. However, he remained her manager throughout her career.[25]
Career
2004: Rising star
Ivanovic reached the final of the Junior Wimbledon tournament, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko.[26] In 2004, she went 26–0 on the ITF Women's Circuit, and won all five events that she entered, two of them as a qualifier. As a qualifier in Zurich, she overcame a 5–1 third-set deficit along with two match points to defeat world No. 29 Tatiana Golovin. She then debuted in the qualifying draw of a major at the US Open, where she was defeated by Lioudmila Skavronskaia after winning the first set 6–1 and having two match points in the third set. Her first notable breakthrough occurred in the next tournament, when she took Venus Williams to two tiebreaks, before losing in straight sets in the second round of the Zurich Open. She had held several set points in both sets. She followed up her run in Zurich with a quarterfinal showing at Luxembourg the next week.[27]
2005: First WTA title
Ivanovic won her first career singles title early in the year at the Canberra International, after defeating Melinda Czink in the final. Her ranking continued to rise after wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova in Miami, Nadia Petrova also in Miami, and Vera Zvonareva in Warsaw, all of whom were top-10 players. Ivanovic lost to Amélie Mauresmo at the Australian Open in the third round, at Doha in the third round after holding a 6–2, 2–0 lead, and at the Miami Masters in the quarterfinals. However, Ivanovic's biggest win to date then came over Mauresmo in the third round of the French Open.[28] She advanced to the quarterfinals of only her second Grand Slam tournament by defeating Francesca Schiavone in the fourth round.[29] Later in the year, Ivanovic reached the semifinals of the Zurich Open and Generali Ladies Linz, losing to Patty Schnyder in both tournaments. She finished the year ranked No. 16.
2006: Breakthrough
Ivanovic started the season at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Western Australia with fellow Serbian Novak Djokovic, where the pair narrowly missed the final.[30] 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. A week later, she lost to Samantha Stosur in the second round of the Australian Open.
Ivanovic made it to the third round of the French Open, before losing to Anastasia Myskina. She progressed to the fourth round at Wimbledon, but lost to eventual champion and world No. 1, Amélie Mauresmo, in straight sets after beating No. 14 seed, Dinara Safina.
Ivanovic made her breakthrough in August by defeating a formerly ranked No. 1, Martina Hingis, in the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal before beating Jelena Janković, No. 14 seed Katarina Srebotnik and top-10 player Dinara Safina. 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.
Ivanovic also played nine tournaments in doubles in 2006, teaming up with Maria Kirilenko and Sania Mirza. Ivanovic and Kirilenko made two semifinals and a final; they ended the year at No. 17 in the annual race to the Championships. Ivanovic finished the year ranked world No. 14 in singles and No. 51 in doubles.
2007: First Grand Slam final and entering the top 10
Ivanovic started the season in Gold Coast and Sydney where she reached quarterfinals. Seeded 13th at the Australian Open, Ivanovic defeated Agnieszka Radwańska in the second round, but lost in the third round to Vera Zvonareva. Immediately after this tournament, she announced that she had split with her coach David Taylor. She then played in the Toray Pan Pacific Open. In the quarterfinals she beat No. 10 Janković, and in the semifinals the No. 1, when Maria Sharapova was forced to retire after Ivanovic had won the first set; but she lost in the final to Martina Hingis.
During the American hard-court season, Ivanovic lost in early rounds. But on clay, she first went on to semifinal of Amelia Island and then managed to win her first Tier-I clay-court title in Berlin, defeating No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final in three sets. Ivanovic needed a tiebreak to finally finish the match. 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, and she then beat world No. 2, Sharapova, in less than one hour in the semifinals. In the final, Ivanovic attempted to win her first major singles title and complete a sweep of the top three players in the world. However, world No. 1 and two-time defending champion Justine Henin won the match in straight sets.
At Wimbledon, Ivanovic defeated world No. 9 Nadia Petrova in the fourth round, and saved three match points to defeat Nicole Vaidišová in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, three-time former Wimbledon champion Venus Williams defeated Ivanovic in two sets after Ivanovic had a break in the second set.[31]
A persistent knee injury sustained at Wimbledon caused Ivanovic to withdraw from Serbian Fed Cup competition against Slovakia and two lead-up events to the US Open.[32] She returned to the tour at the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California, saving two match points in the semifinals with huge winner before defeating No. 3 Janković in three sets. In the final, Ivanovic defeated top-10 player Petrova to win the fourth singles title of her career, which raised her ranking to a career-high of world No. 4.
In Ivanovic's first three matches at the US Open, she lost only ten games. Venus Williams then eliminated her for the second consecutive time at a major.
Ivanovic returned to Europe for three tournaments. At the Tier II Luxembourg Championships, Ivanovic qualified for the Tour Championships by virtue of reaching the semifinals. In the final, Ivanovic rallied from 3–6, 0–3 down to defeat Daniela Hantuchová in two hours and 25 minutes. This was her fifth career title. In the quarterfinals and semifinals she beat Tatiana Golovin and Vera Zvonareva.
To end the year, Ivanovic played in the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. Seeded 4th and assigned to the Red Group during the round-robin phase, she defeated world No. 2 Kuznetsova and then Hantuchová in straight sets. She qualified for the semifinals but Sharapova defeated Ivanovic in the final match of the round-robin stage. Because she finished second in her group, Ivanovic played world No. 1 Henin in the semifinals, in which the Belgian won in two sets.
Ivanovic finished the year with a career-high ranking of world No. 4.
2008: French Open champion and world No. 1
Ivanovic started the year at the Medibank International, where she made the quarterfinals, eventually losing to world No. 1, Justine Henin, despite having had break points in the third set. As the fourth seed at the Australian Open, Ivanovic made it all the way to the finals, beating top-10 players Venus Williams for the first time in her career, and coming back from a 0–6, 0–2 deficit against Daniela Hantuchová. She was given the nickname "Aussie Ana" during the on-court interview with Todd Woodbridge following the victory over Williams.[33] Ivanovic fell against Sharapova in a tight match in the final where Ivanovic had 0–30 at 5–4 in first set. Her ranking rose to world No. 3, the highest of her career at the time.
In Serbia's Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I D round-robin tie against Poland, Romania and Netherlands Ivanovic won all of her matches, as Serbia advanced to the World Group II playoffs in April. And soon Serbia qualified for World Group II, after beating neighboring country Croatia.
In March, Ivanovic defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final of the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells before wins over top-15 players Francesca Schiavone, Vera Zvonareva, and world No. 4 Jelena Janković, in the semifinals. She lost to Lindsay Davenport in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami the following week in straight sets.
Ivanovic started her clay-court season as defending champion at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin where she lost to Elena Dementieva for the fourth time in four meetings in the semifinals. In Rome she lost to qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova, but it couldn't demoralize Ivanovic, as she defeated Petra Cetkovská 6–0, 6–0 in the fourth round, No. 10 Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals, and No. 3 Jelena Janković in a thrilling encounter in the semifinals of French Open. She went on to defeat Dinara Safina in straight sets in the final, winning her first and only major singles title.
At Wimbledon, Ivanovic saved match points against Nathalie Dechy, but fell against unseeded wildcard Zheng Jie of China in straight sets in the third round.
Ivanovic started the summer hard-court season with a third-round loss at the Rogers Cup in Montreal to Tamira Paszek. Ivanovic, bothered by a sore thumb sustained during practice two weeks before Montreal,[34] withdrew from the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. Her withdrawal saw her lose the world No. 1 ranking to Janković. The thumb injury also caused her to withdraw from the Summer Olympics in Beijing, which Ivanovic described as "one of the worst moments of her career."[35] Ivanovic, having reclaimed her world No. 1 ranking on 18 August, was the top-seeded player at the US Open,[36] but lost to qualifier Julie Coin in second round. The loss was the earliest defeat of the top-seeded player at the US Open since the 1973 tournament.[37]
In her first match after the US Open, at the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Ivanovic was defeated by Nadia Petrova in three sets, 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."[38] Ivanovic then played in Beijing, and after two great results, she lost to Zheng Jie in three sets despite winning 16 more points than her opponent.
Then she came back to Europe to play three more tournaments, first in Moscow where she lost to Dominika Cibulková after having two match points. In the Zurich Open, she lost in the semifinals to Venus Williams after leading 3–1 in the third set. Ivanovic played in Linz and won the tournament as a top-seed by crushing top-10 players Agnieszka Radwańska and Vera Zvonareva in the final.
At the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar, Ivanovic was seeded 4th. In her first round-robin match, she was defeated by world No. 1 Janković after she won the best point of the year.[citation needed] Her next match was against Zvonareva, to whom she also lost in three exciting sets. She withdrew from her final match against Kuznetsova because of a virus.[39]
2009: Out of the top 20
At the Australian Open, Ivanovic was seeded fifth and won her first two matches in straight sets before losing to 29th seed Russian Alisa Kleybanova in the third round.
Ivanovic took part in Serbia's Fed Cup win in the World Group II tie against Japan. She defeated Ai Sugiyama and Ayumi Morita to help Serbia to a 4–1 win. At the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Premier-5 event, she lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. Around this time, Ivanovic began working with her new coach Craig Kardon, after parting with former coach Sven Groeneveld.[40][41]
At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where she was defending champion, Ivanovic advanced to the finals, before losing to Vera Zvonareva. In Miami, Ivanovic lost in the third round to Ágnes Szávay. In April, she took part in Serbia's Fed Cup World Group Play-offs against Spain. She defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues to help Serbia gain promotion to the World Group with a 4–0 win.
At the French Open, Ivanovic won her first three matches in straight sets, before losing to Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round. This early loss caused Ivanovic to fall out of the top ten for the first time since May 2007. After the loss, Ivanovic announced that she would cease working with Craig Kardon,[42] and would be participating in the adidas Player Development Program, where she would be coached by Sven Groeneveld, Darren Cahill, Mats Merkel and Gil Reyes.[43][44][45]
At Wimbledon, Ivanovic was seeded 13th. She faced two match points against Lucie Hradecká, before prevailing. She then took down Sara Errani and 18th seed Samantha Stosur in the second and third rounds in straight sets, before retiring against eventual finalist Venus Williams.
At the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Ivanovic defeated Magdaléna Rybáriková in the first round and went on to face Lucie Šafářová in the second round where she was eliminated.[46]
At the US Open, Ivanovic lost in the first round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career by succumbing to Kateryna Bondarenko. After the match, former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash criticized Ivanovic's new service motion, stating that watching it was a "painful experience" and that it "weakened her threat." He also felt that Ivanovic was "over-analysing" her game and that her main problem was "her lack of confidence."[47]
At the Premier 5 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Ivanovic suffered her third successive defeat by losing to Lucie Šafářová in the first round. Citing an upper respiratory tract infection, Ivanovic pulled out of the China Open and announced on her website that she was taking the rest of the year off.
She finished the year with a 24–14 match record, her worst since she turned pro, and did not win any titles. Ivanovic only reached three quarterfinals, one semifinal, and one final, and only won back-to-back matches six times. Ivanovic ended the year ranked 22, the first time she had been ranked outside the top 20 since July 2005.
2010: Return to the top 20
Ivanovic started the year in Brisbane. Seeded third, Ivanovic reached her first semifinal since Indian Wells in 2009. She eventually bowed out to wildcard Justine Henin in Henin's first tournament since her return from retirement. Ivanovic was seeded 20th at the Australian Open, but lost to Gisela Dulko in the second round in three sets. She then participated in the opening round of the Fed Cup in Serbia's tie against Russia, and she went 0–2 in her singles matches and also lost doubles match.
Ivanovic announced that she would be working with Steffi Graf's former coach Heinz Günthardt on a trial basis during the spring North American hard-court season, suspending her relationship with the Adidas Player Development Program indefinitely. In her first match as Gunthardt's pupil, a one-set semifinal against reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters in the 2010 Billie Jean King Cup at Madison Square Garden, Ivanovic lost in a tiebreak, despite having held match point. After the match, Ivanovic stated that she had noted improvements in her game.
Despite her improvements, Ivanovic lost her opening match in Indian Wells, suffering four consecutive losses for the first time. By also losing a huge number of ranking points, Ivanovic dropped out of the top 50 for the first time since March 2005. Seeded 25th in Miami, Ivanovic won her first match since the Australian Open, but then lost to Radwańska in the third round.
Ivanovic lost again to Radwańska at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. But unseeded in Rome, Ivanovic had her best week of tennis in nearly two years. She stunned top-10 players Victoria Azarenka and Elena Dementieva, and top-20 player Nadia Petrova, all in straight sets, before losing to eventual champion María José Martínez Sánchez in the semifinals. She was granted a wildcard into the Madrid Open, and received a bye in the first round due to her semifinal appearance at the Italian Open. She was the first unseeded wildcard to receive a first-round bye in the history of the WTA Tour. She lost in the second round to Jelena Janković, despite leading by a set and a break. Ivanovic entered the French Open unseeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2005. She fell to Alisa Kleybanova in the second round.
In the UNICEF Open, Ivanovic fell to seventh-seeded German Andrea Petkovic in the second round. Ivanovic was defeated in the first round of Wimbledon by 13th seed Shahar Pe'er, and as a consequence saw her ranking drop to world No. 64.
In the opening round of the Stanford, Ivanovic avenged her 2009 Australian Open and 2010 French Open defeats by beating Alisa Kleybanova, before losing in the next round to Marion Bartoli in straight sets. In Cincinnati, she rallied from a set and a break down to beat Victoria Azarenka in three sets. Ivanovic retired against Kim Clijsters in the semifinals due to a foot injury. Her ranking dramatically improved to world No. 39. The injury caused her to withdraw from New Haven. Unseeded at the US Open, Ivanovic breezed into the fourth round with straight-set victories, before losing to defending and eventual champion Kim Clijsters.
Ivanovic lost her opener to Vera Dushevina in Seoul as the 7th seed. Ivanovic then defeated Kleybanova, the Korea Open champion, in the first round of Tokyo, before again losing to Bartoli in straight sets. Ivanovic avenged her losses to Bartoli at the China Open, beating the Frenchwoman in straight sets. On her way to the quarterfinals, Ivanovic scored top-10 victory by defeating Elena Dementieva for the second time in 2010. Ivanovic fell to world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki.
Entering the Linz Open as a wildcard, Ivanovic defeated Patty Schnyder in the finals in straight sets, in just 47 minutes of play. Ivanovic headed to the BGL Luxembourg Open as the 4th seed, where she reached the quarterfinals, before falling to 8th seed Julia Görges.
Ivanovic revealed that she had ended her coaching relationship with Swiss star Heinz Günthardt, because Gunthardt did not want to travel full-time[48] and mixed his interest in tennis with being a Swiss television commentator.[49]
By virtue of her title in Linz, Ivanovic qualified for the last tournament of the season, the Tournament of Champions. She made it to the finals, where she defeated Kleybanova for her tenth career title and her second of the year. She won ten of her last thirteen matches. With her title in Bali, Ivanovic achieved a year-end ranking of No. 17, her fifth finish in the top 20.