Goran Ivanišević

Career

Goran is the son of Srđan and Gorana (née Škaričić). He turned professional in 1988 and, later that year, with Rüdiger Haas, won his first career doubles title in Frankfurt. Although he focused mostly on his singles career, he also had some success in doubles, winning nine titles and reaching a career-high ranking of 20.

In 1989, as a qualifier he made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. 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 quarterfinals. He was also, with Petr Korda, the runner-up in the French Open men's doubles. At that year's Wimbledon, Ivanišević reached the semifinals, 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. Ivanišević's 6–7, 7–6, 6–4, 6–2 semifinal victory over Sampras was particularly impressive, with Ivanišević serving 36 aces and not even facing a break point in the entire match. In the final, Ivanišević faced Andre Agassi and was heavily favored to win; with both players attempting to win their first Grand Slam title. Agassi eventually won 6–7, 6–4, 6–4, 1–6, 6–4. In the fifth set, Ivanišević had a break point on Agassi's serve at 3–3, but failed to convert it. In the final game of the match, Ivanišević served 2 double faults to start the game, even though he had only served 5 double faults in the entire match before that. Ivanišević's ace count for the tournament (206) was the highest in Wimbledon history at the time, until Ivanišević beat his own record in 2001 with 213 aces. Ivanišević served 37 aces in the 1992 Wimbledon final against Agassi, while Agassi had 37 aces in the entire tournament. It was a tough loss, but as Ivanišević 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 served as flagbearer for the Croatian team at the opening ceremony. In order to earn his single bronze medal, he won 4 consecutive 5-sets matches, a unique feat in the open era. 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 semifinals to Sampras 6–7, 6–4, 3–6, 6–4, 3–6.

In 1996, Ivanišević won a career-best five singles titles in a calendar year. 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 semifinals of the U.S. Open, his first Grand Slam semifinal away from Wimbledon; the match was the last Grand Slam match of Edberg's career. In the semifinals, Ivanišević fell again to Sampras, in four sets; Sampras would go on to defeat Michael Chang to win his fourth U.S. Open championship.

In April 1997, Ivanišević became the only player to defeat the "king of clay", Thomas Muster, in a Davis Cup singles match on clay. Ivanišević defeated Muster, 6–7, 7–5, 6–7, 6–2, 7–5, despite Muster having won 112 of his previous 117 matches on clay going into the match. During 1997, Ivanišević also got back up to his career high ranking of World No. 2, although his ranking fell down to No. 15 by the end of the year.

In 1998, Ivanišević reached his third Wimbledon final, facing Sampras once again. Ivanišević started the match well, but failed to take set points which would have given him a 2 set lead, and Ivanišević eventually lost to Sampras in five sets, 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 Moyá, Andy Roddick and Marat Safin as well as Fredrik Jonsson and Greg Rusedski to reach the semifinal, beating home favourite Tim Henman in a five set, rain-affected semifinal, 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.

On 10 July 2001, Ivanišević received a hero's welcome in his home city of Split where a crowd of over 150,000 led by local and state dignitaries greeted him at the central harbor, with a parade of boats and fireworks, topped off by Ivanišević himself taking off his clothes and jumping into the sea. 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 in 2002 due to shoulder surgery. He returned to tennis sparingly in the following years but, in 2004, retired after a third-round loss to Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon, held on the Centre Court, the scene of his greatest triumph.

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 escape from Premiership relegation in 2005. He wore an Albion shirt whilst warming up prior to the 2006 BlackRock Masters final and finally watched his first match in December 2011, as West Bromwich Albion played Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road

Ivanišević 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).

Playing Style and Reputation

Ivanisevic was a serve and volleyer and played a fast, aggressive game suited to grass courts. He was known for his powerful and accurate left-handed serve, particularly his first serve that was clutch. Known to "go big" on important points, he would often use his first serve twice instead of using his second serve. Coupled with his deft and forceful volleys, he would always put his opponents under pressure.

Like most serve-and-volleyers, Ivanisevic's return game and defence was weaker due to his powerful but inconsistent groundstrokes. On the backhand side, he would often use the slice instead of hitting with top-spin and use the chip-and-charge tactic to come to the net. However, unlike most serve-and-volleyers, Ivanisevic used a double-handed instead of the single-handed backhand.

Known for his temper on court, Ivanisevic was known to argue with umpires and berate himself during matches. His lack of confidence and mental strength also arguably hindered his success early on in his career, often faltering in important moments and matches.

Team titles (3)

Senior tennis tour and other engagements

Right after retiring from the ATP Tour in 2004, Ivanišević started playing on the ATP Champions Tour (seniors' circuit).

In 2005, he 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. Ivanišević received a winner's medal and his name was engraved on the trophy along with Mario Ančić, Ivo Karlović, Ivan Ljubičić and team captain Nikola Pilić.

In June 2006, he performed in the Calderstones Park tournament in Liverpool. In November of the same year, 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 consecutive Wimbledon title against Rafael Nadal in the final, practiced with Ivanišević. Federer said the practice session 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.

As of 2015, Ivanišević still takes part in tournaments on the seniors' circuit.

Investments

Retiring in 2004 also allowed then 33-year-old Ivanišević to devote more attention to investing in the real-estate and construction industries, which he had already been involved with since 1998, conducting his business through the Croatia-registered limited liability company called Sport Line (based in Split). Since Ivanišević was still an active tennis player when the venture got established, most of the company's initial day-to-day business was handled by his father Srdjan. Their main activity was an ambitious undertaking — construction of "Lazarica 2", a 65-unit luxury apartment building in the Split neighbourhood of Firule, which was supposed to start in November 1998 and finish by late 2000. After many delays, the project finally completed in 2003, but dragged the company in debt due to many unsold units.

News of Ivanišević's financial problems first appeared in summer 2005 after he talked about it in an interview with Globus newsmagazine, admitting Lazarica 2 was a "failed project", as well as later that year when he talked to the Daily Telegraph about losing substantial amount of money in some of his investments.

After much speculation throughout spring 2006, Ivanišević joined with AC Milan footballer Dario Šimić, former basketball player Ivica Žurić as well as businessmen Marijan Šarić, Mate Šarić, and Batheja Pramod in September 2006 to jointly invest HRK93 million (~€12.5 million) for the purposes of added market capitalization of Karlovačka banka. Ivanišević, Šimić, and Žurić each invested HRK19 million (~€2.5 million), thus each obtaining 9% ownership stake in the bank.

Ivanišević's finances became the subject of news reports again in August 2010 when it was reported that his Sunseeker Predator 72 motor yacht got repossessed by Hypo Leasing Kroatien, a subsidiary of Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International after reportedly a full year of Ivanišević failing to meet his monthly lease payments of €12,000. Ivanišević would deny this, saying that the yacht was returned due to mechanical defect.

On 31 January 2013, Ivanišević's company Sport Line filed papers for bankruptcy settlement proceedings before the Croatian Trade Court after accumulating debts of HRK5.7 million. Among the list of entities the company reportedly owed money to is the Croatian government in the amount of HRK1.1 million.

Sports administration

In August 2005 Ivanišević got voted to be one of four vice-presidents of the Croatian Olympic Committee (HOO) working under president Zlatko Mateša.

Coaching

In 2013 Ivanišević began coaching compatriot Marin Čilić, who won the 2014 US Open under his guidance. He split with Čilić after 2016 Wimbledon. On 8th August 2016, Tomáš Berdych announced at social media that Ivanišević will begin coaching him, starting at 2016 Western & Southern Open.

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