Former World #1 Ana Ivanovic announced she is retiring from tennis. At a press conference held Tuesday, the Serb announced that she would be hanging up the racket and ending her professional tennis career.
Ana Ivanovic Announces Her Retirement
Ivanovic’s first career title came at Canberra in 2005, defeating Melinda Czink in the final. Two years later, she reached her first career Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon. Her big breakthrough came at the following Major, when she made the French Open final after winning the previous week in Berlin. Her 12-match winning streak was snapped by Justine Henin.
2008 was the Serb’s best year as she reached her second career major final at the Australian Open, defeating Venus Williams en route to the championship match. Her semifinal match was notable for Ivanovic overcoming a 6-0, 2-0 deficit against Daniela Hantuchova. Again, she would come up short, falling to Maria Sharapova in the final. There would be no denying the Serb her major at Roland Garros, winning her first, and to date, only major, defeating Dinara Safina.
Instead of the win in Paris propelling Ivanovic, it was merely a flash in the pan as she lost to qualifier Julie Coin in the third round of the U.S. Open, the earliest exit for a top seed in Flushing since 1973.
In the years following Ivanovic’s breakthrough 2008 season, the Serb could never duplicate her success. Losses early in majors were followed by a drop in the rankings to as low as being out of the Top 50 in 2009. Despite winning the Tournament of Champions in Bali and returning to the Top 20 in 2010, Ivanovic still couldn’t find consistency.
Despite problems with her serve motion, a brief comeback finally came in 2012 after reaching the fourth round in Melbourne and the quarterfinals in New York for the first time and helping Serbia reach the Fed Cup final for the first time.
The full comeback seemed to finally be on in 2014 when she stunned Serena Williams in the fourth round at the Australian Open. Titles in Auckland, Monterrey, Birmingham and Tokyo propelled her back into the Top 5, her second best ranking ever. A year later, she was back in a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time since 2008 when she made the last four at Roland Garros.
2016 was not as kind as Ivanovic failed tp continue the momentum built from the previous year, failing to get past the third round of any major and subsequently falling out of the Top 60.
Despite her many issues, Ivanovic has remained one of the most popular players on tour with a loyal and devoted fanbase.
Ana Ivanovic will go down as one of the nicest human beings to ever play professional tennis. And that counts for a heck of a lot.
— Courtney Nguyen (@FortyDeuceTwits) December 28, 2016
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