Where Did It All Go Wrong: The Sad Demise of Ana Ivanovic

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: August 10, 2010

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On May 26th 2008, at only 20 years old, Ana Ivanovic lifted the French Open title. Having only dropped one set in the tournament and gained the coveted world No. 1 spot, the future seemed to be bright for the young Serb. However, in the 27 months since that triumph, she has only won one tournament – a minor tournament in Austria in October 2008.

In fact, she has only reached one other final in that time. She now finds herself languishing outside the top 60 in the world, relying on wildcards to gain entry into the top tournaments. So where did everything go wrong for the talented Serb?

Her early tennis coaching is as far from the typical upbringing that we could imagine. Having started playing tennis at the age of five after watching compatriot Monica Seles on the television, her early training was disrupted by the NATO bombings of Yugoslavia in 1999. Forced to only train in the mornings, and in an abandoned swimming pool during the winter months due to a lack of facilities, few would have backed her to reach the big time.

However, the first hints of the mental frailty that was to affect her later career were seen after she spent four hours locked in her locker-room crying after losing her first match in front of her new manager, fearing that he would drop her. However, he stuck with her, and remains with her to this day.



In 2004, at the age of 16, she showed impressive form on the minor ITF circuit, winning 26 straight matches and all five tournaments that she entered. However, success on the major WTA tour was harder to come by. Her first major breakthrough came in Zurich, where she pushed Venus Williams to two tie breaks, squandering set points in both sets. She reached the last eight the following week in Luxembourg in her final tournament of the year.

2005 started in magnificent fashion, winning her first career WTA title in her first tournament of the ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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