Goran Ivanishevich is the king of the departure

Goran Ivanisevic (photo below) is one of the most outstanding players in the history of tennis. Many accused him of lack of skills and their diversity. Despite this, Goran's career was full of bright moments. And not only on the court, but also outside it. This article will describe a brief biography of the tennis player.

Childhood

Goran Ivanisevic was born in the city of Split (Yugoslavia) in 1971. The boy's parents were scientists. Passion for tennis appeared in the child at a very early age. The first coach of Goran was Elena Gencic, who at the time was preparing the legendary Monica Seles. Seeing the success of his son, his parents decided to support him and sold the house to pay the money they received in the academy Niki Pilich (Germany).

Carier start

Young Goran Ivanishevich trained with full dedication, and soon it bore fruit: victory in the open championship of Italy. The tennis player at that time was only 16 years old. A little later, Goran was bowed to the US Championship in doubles. In late 1988, Ivanishevich was in third place in the junior ranking and decided to move to the next level.

However, the first professional tournament ended quickly for the athlete. Goran knocked out in the first match. The young man realized that one strong serve (later it will be his business card) is not enough to win. The tennis player continued to work on improving his own game.

Flowering

In 1989, Goran Ivanisevic, whose personal life will be described below, quickly broke into the ATP rating. Several successful performances allowed the 18-year-old tennis player to enter the TOP-100. And if we consider the result for the whole season, the Croat has risen by about 400 positions, finishing in the fourth ten.

After several semifinals and finals, Goran won the first major victories at the Grand Prix and Stuttgart. All this led the Croatian in the TOP-10 rating, where the athlete was fixed for a very long time.

Separately it is worth noting the success of the national team of Yugoslavia. With the advent of Ivanisevic, the team's play on the Davis Cup became more confident. And at the Olympics the team managed to pass into the quarterfinals.

War

In 1991, Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia. A war broke out between the two countries. Goran Ivanishevich very hard experienced this event and helped fellow countrymen than he could. For example, the athlete participated in a variety of charity tournaments, transferring the proceeds to the "Victory Fund" of the Croatian army.

Climbing

A year later, all the passions had subsided, a significant upswing in the career of the athlete. In 1992, Goran Ivanisevic (the athlete's height is 193 centimeters) lost only in the Wimbledon final. The same thing happened again in 1994. In the first case he was stopped by Andre Agassi, and two years later by the American Pete Sampras. The last Goran again will give way in 12 months, but already in the semifinals. And in three years Sampras will again overcome the Croat.

Countless attempts by Ivanishevich to seize the trophy made him the main "loser" of Wimbledon. Despite this, Goran very successfully performed in other, less-status competitions. As a result, the tennis player reached the second line of the rating, which became his best achievement in his career.

Sunset

In 1999, Ivanishevich began to fail. The shoulder injury received in the past became chronic and did not allow the athlete to play at the same level. Two years later, Goran fell into the second hundred of the rating. And in the team did not go better.

Miracle

In 2001, the tennis player managed to take the 125th line of the rating. This was noticed by the organizers of Wimbledon and invited Goran to the tournament. Ivanishevich considered this possibility as a gift of fate and did not intend to miss it. On the way to the final, he defeated Marat Safin and Andy Roddick. Then, for three days, the Croat got down to Tim Henman. And finally he squeezed Patrick Raffer with a score of 9: 7.

Ivanishevich became the first (and currently only) tennis player who won at Wimbledon with a wild card (an invitation card for an unskilled athlete). The young man dedicated his victory to Drazhen Petrovich, a friend who died in 1993.

End of career

In the homeland of Goran met hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic fans. He became the sportsman of the year for the fifth time. In 2004, Ivanishevich held the last match at the beloved Wimbledon court.

Achievements

His first "eternal" record Goran established in 1994. According to statistics, the tennis player performed during the season 1,477 innings. Another achievement of the athlete is that he has submitted 30 ays for the match 34 times in his career.

Personal life

Since 1993, Goran Ivanishevich went to the world tournaments, accompanied by the former top model Daniela Michalich. Their novel lasted for four years. Parting affected Goran's career very positively: for five years he was in the TOP-10 rating of ATP.

In 2009, Ivanishevich married Tatiana Dragovich. Before that they had met for ten years and managed to have two children: Emanuel's son and daughter Amber.