On September 13, 1971, Goran Ivanisevic was born. He is a Croatian tennis instructor who was formerly a professional player. He is the only player to ever use a wildcard to win a Wimbledon singles championship. After finishing second at Wimbledon in 1992, 1994, and 1998, he accomplished this in 2001 while holding the world No. 125 ranking. World No. 2 was Ivanisevic’s singles position at the peak of her career, which occurred in July 1994. From September 2013 to July 2016, he was Marin Cilic’s coach. Under his guidance, Cilic won his lone major championship in the 2014 US Open. Since 2019, he has been Novak Djokovic’s coach. Induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame took place for Ivanisevic in 2020.
Wife and family
In 2009, he wed Tatjana Dragovic, and the two eventually had two kids. 2013 saw their divorce. With his second wife, Nives Canovic, he has a single child.
House
It is conveniently located near the waterfront, marina, and the city’s historic core on the southern slopes of Marjan Hill, a desirable residential neighbourhood. The family home of former professional tennis player Goran Ivanisevic is the contemporary Meje House.
Net Worth
He has a net worth around $22 million by 2022-2023. He is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Most of his income stems from the games he played.
Career
Goran is the son of Gorana and Srdan. He was trained by Jelena Gencic when he was younger. He became a professional in 1988, and with Rüdiger Haas, he won his first doubles championship later that year in Frankfurt. Despite concentrating mostly on his singles career, he also saw some success in doubles, taking home nine titles and rising as high as 20 in the rankings. He advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals in 1989 as a qualifier. In 1990, Ivanisevic made his first notable impact on the tour when he eliminated Boris Becker in the first round of the men’s singles competition at the French Open. From there, he advanced to the quarterfinals. Along with Petr Korda, he finished second in the men’s doubles competition at the French Open.
Ivanisevic made it to the Wimbledon quarterfinals that year before falling to Becker in four sets. In 1990 at Stuttgart, Ivanisevic not only won his maiden tour singles title but also contributed to Yugoslavia’s World Team Cup victory. He participated in eight Davis Cup matches for Yugoslavia before leaving the squad in 1991, the year of Croatia’s declaration of independence. Yugoslavia then suffered a 5-0 defeat to France. Ivanisevic soon established a reputation on the tour for his aggressive, forceful style of play and exceptionally good serve. He was the tour leader in aces for a number of years. He was also well-known for his occasionally violent outbursts on the court, which were mostly directed at himself. In 1992, at the Australian Men’s Hardcourt Championships, Ivanisevic received death threats.
He ultimately won the competition. In 1992, Ivanisevic beat Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg, and Ivan Lendl in quick succession en route to reaching his first Wimbledon singles final. Despite serving 36 aces and without encountering a single break point during the entire set, Ivanisevic defeated Sampras in the semifinals 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2. Ivanisevic played Andre Agassi in the championship match, and the Serbian star was the clear favourite. Both players were going for their first Grand Slam victory. Eventually, Agassi prevailed 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Ivanisevic had a break point at 3-3 in the fifth set on Agassi’s serve, but he couldn’t take advantage of it.
Even though he had only committed 5 double faults in the entire match prior to the final set, he served 2 double faults to begin the game. Up until he broke his own record in 2001 with 213 aces, his tournament’s ace total (206) was the most in Wimbledon history. In contrast to Agassi, who had 37 aces during the tournament, he served 37 aces in the 1992 Wimbledon final. He represented Croatia, a nation that had just gained independence, and won bronze medals in both the singles and doubles competitions in the Olympic Games later that summer in Barcelona. He also acted as the Croatian team’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony. He achieved a career high of five singles championships in 1996. He again made it to the Grand Slam Cup final but fell to Becker in straight sets this time. Ivanisevic and Iva Majoli also helped Croatia win the Hopman Cup in 1996. In that same year, he also triumphed over Stefan Edberg to go to the U.S. Open semifinals, marking his first Grand Slam semifinal outside of Wimbledon. It was also Edberg’s final Grand Slam match. Sampras defeated Ivanisevic once more in the semifinals, this time in four sets; Sampras later defeated Michael Chang to win his fourth U.S. Open title.
Ivanisevic held the 125th-best position in the world by the summer of 2001. This was not enough to guarantee him a spot in Wimbledon’s main draw, but because of his track record as a three-time runner-up, he was given a wildcard for the singles competition. To advance to the semifinal, he defeated home favourite Tim Henman in a five-set, rain-affected match, setting up a match with the previous year’s runner-up and former US Open champion Patrick Rafter. He also defeated former and future world No. 1 players Carlos Moyá, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, Fredrik Jonsson, and Greg Rusedski. Ivanisevic had not competed in a singles final since 1998. Ivanisevic defeated Rafter in a contest that lasted slightly more than three hours. Ivanisevic received a hero’s welcome on July 10, 2001, in his hometown of Split. A crowd of over 150,000 people, led by local and state dignitaries, welcomed him at the central harbour with a parade of boats and fireworks, with Ivanisevic himself stripping off and jumping into the water as the finale. He won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award later that year. The 2004 Queen’s Club Championships included doubles play between Goran Ivanisevic and Mario Ancic. The Wimbledon championship in 2001 marked Ivanisevic’s final triumph. After having shoulder surgery in 2002, he briefly retired. In the years that followed, he sporadically played tennis again, but in 2004 he decided to call it quits after losing to Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon in the third round.