ANA IVANOVIC

Ana Ivanović born November 6, 1987, in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia is a former World No. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of February 14, 2011, she is ranked World No. 19 on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open.

Personal life
Ivanović's mother Dragana, a lawyer, supports her daughter during most of her matches. Her father Miroslav, a self-employed businessman, attends as many events as he possibly can. Ana has a younger brother, Miloš, with whom she loves to play basketball. Aside from her tennis career, Ivanović also studies finance at a university in Belgrade and Spanish in her spare time. Her inspiration to begin playing was that time Serbian player, Monika Seleš.

On September 8, 2007, Ivanović became a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia, alongside Aleksandar Đorđević, Jelena Janković and Emir Kusturica. She takes a special interest in the fields of education and child protection. Ivanović visited a primary school in Serbia during her inauguration and said that she is "also looking forward to going into the classroom and meeting many kids."

Ivanović confirmed in November 2008 that she was romantically involved with Spanish tennis player Fernando Verdasco, but it was reported that the relationship ended in January 2009. Ivanović was then in a relationship with Australian golf player Adam Scott but their relationship apparently ended in August 2010.[10] Some of her best friends include close childhood family friend Novak Djokovic, whom she has known since the age of 5, and current ATP World No. 1 Rafael Nadal.

Equipment

Ivanović endorsed Nike apparel and shoes at the beginning of her professional career,but at the beginning of 2006 switched to rival Adidas.Ivanovic then signed a lifetime contract with the company. Ivanovic will become an Ambassador for Adidas once she retires from competitive tennis. She is believed to be the youngest athlete, male or female, to sign a contract of such longevity. She started with the Wilson racquets, eventually using the nCode nBlade.Since the beginning of 2008, Ivanović has used Yonex racquets. She previously used the RQiS 1 Tour XL 95, but at the beginning of the Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open 2010 in Cincinnati switched to a prototype version of a new Yonex racket. The model, an EZONE racket, is to be released within the coming months.



Playing style
Ivanović is an offensive baseliner who is notable for her aggressive play. In 2007 and 2008, Ivanović was regarded as one of the best competitors on the women's tour. After winning the 2008 French Open and becoming #1, Ivanović has endured a significant slump in form. Many critics attribute her loss in form to her lack of confidence and self-belief. At the 2010 Australian Open, Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova commented that, "while she has absolutely no confidence in herself, she still fights till the last point." Currently, she has made some improvements to her playing style since appointing a new coach in 2010. As a result, she has started to play with more confidence and is winning matches more consistently.

Serve
Ivanović's serve is a powerful weapon. She hit a 124.9 mph (201.0 km/h) serve at the French Open in 2007, the fifth fastest serve of all time on the WTA Tour.[31] As of late, however, her serve has become unreliable – mostly due to technical issues with her ball toss. The success of her ball toss is directly associated with her nerves. During the French Open final in 2007, Ivanović was overcome with nerves and her toss went astray. During Ivanović's slump in play in 2009, her serve became gradually less effective as her confidence diminished. Ana is now confident she has rectified these problems.

Groundstokes
Another one of Ivanović's strengths is her powerful forehand. It has been considered to be one of the best forehands in the game.[citation needed] Its fluid motion enables Ivanović to score many winners. Her backhand, although not as big as her forehand, has improved over the years. Ivanović's movement and net play were once considered to be her weaknesses, but they have both improved over the years. She is considered now to be considerably faster than when she started playing professional tennis.

Surfaces
Ivanović's best surface is the clay court, where her height allows her to strike clean winners off of high bouncing balls. Nonetheless, she is capable of performing well on hard and grass courts as well. When she launched her re-branded site during 2010, she stated in her bio that she likes all surfaces.

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Nick name: Anči, Aussie Ana
Country:
Serbia and Montenegro(2003–2006) Serbia (2006–present)

Residence: Basel, Switzerland
Date of birth: November 6, 1987 (1987-11-06)
Place of birth: Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height: 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro: August 17, 2003
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money :US$ 7,993,026

Singles
Career record: 270–109
Career titles: 10 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking: No. 1 (June 9, 2008)
Current ranking: No. 21 (February 21, 2011)

Grand Slam results
Australian Open F (2008)
French Open W (2008)
Wimbledon SF (2007)
US Open 4R (2007, 2010)
Other tournaments
Championships SF (2007)

Doubles
Career record 20–26
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 50 (September 25, 2006)
Grand Slam Doubles results
French Open 1R (2005, 2007)
Wimbledon 3R (2005)
US Open 3R (2006)