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Goran Šimun Ivanišević (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's name is synonymous with 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. 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.
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. He even warmed up in an Albion
shirt prior to the 2006 BlackRock Masters final.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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Goran
Ivanisevic - Manifesting Generator - Biography
