Ana Ivanović

Ana Ivanović is a Serbian former professional tennis player who reached world No. 1 and won the 2008 French Open singles title.

Ana Ivanović was born on 6 November 1987 in Belgrade, in what was then SR Serbia, Yugoslavia, to an economist father and lawyer mother, and began playing tennis at five after watching Monica Seles on television and asking her parents for a racquet, which she received on her fifth birthday. Growing up during the Kosovo crisis and NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, she often trained in an empty swimming pool during winter due to a shortage of indoor courts. A Serbian tennis teacher connected the young Ivanović with a Swiss businessman who agreed to fund her training abroad, and she relocated to Basel, Switzerland, turning professional in 2003. She won her first WTA title in unusual fashion at the 2005 Canberra International, defeating the same opponent in both the final round of qualifying and the main draw final. Ivanović reached the final of the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open before winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the 2008 French Open, ascending to the world No. 1 ranking shortly afterward — a position she held for 12 weeks across two stints that year. Ivanović won 15 WTA singles titles across her career, and was nominated for the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2022, which would make her the first inductee to have represented Serbia. She retired in December 2016, having also become a prominent UNICEF ambassador during her playing career.

Ivanović possessed a powerful baseline game built around aggressive groundstrokes, particularly her forehand. She was known for her attacking mentality and ability to hit winners from defensive positions. Her serve was also a weapon, though she occasionally struggled with consistency under pressure.

Ivanović helped raise the profile of Serbian tennis alongside Novak Djokovic and inspired a generation of young players in her home country.

• French Open 2008
• former world No. 1