Ana Ivanovic

Ivanovic reached the final of the Junior Wimbledon tournament, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko. In 2004, she went 26–0 on the ITF Women's Circuit, and won all five events that she entered, two of them as a qualifier. As a qualifier in Zurich, she overcame a 5–1 third-set deficit along with two match points to defeat world No. 29 Tatiana Golovin. She then debuted in the qualifying draw of a Major at the US Open, where she was defeated by Lioudmila Skavronskaia after winning the first set 6–1 and having two match points in the third set. Her first notable breakthrough occurred in the next tournament, when she took Venus Williams to two tiebreaks, before losing in straight sets in the second round of the Zurich Open. She had held several set points in both sets. She followed up her run in Zurich with a quarterfinal showing at Luxembourg the next week.

Having qualified for the Tour Championships, Ivanovic was drawn into the Red Group alongside Serena Williams, Halep and Bouchard. In Ivanovic's first match of the tournament, against top-seed Serena Williams, she lost in straight sets. However, she clinched victory in her second match, against Bouchard. Despite defeating Halep in her final round-robin match, Ivanovic was unable to progress since she dropped a set in the process. In doing so, she became the first player since Lindsay Davenport in 2004 to not progress to the semifinals with a 2–1 record in RR play. However, Ivanovic did finish the year ranked No. 5, her second best year-end ranking since turning pro.

Ivanovic also played nine tournaments in doubles in 2006, teaming up with Maria Kirilenko and Sania Mirza. Ivanovic and Kirilenko made two semifinals and a final; they ended the year at No. 17 in the annual race to the Championships. Ivanovic finished the year ranked world No. 14 in singles and No. 51 in doubles.

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. However, from 2009 to 2012, her service game has largely been viewed as a liability instead of a weapon. This is because of her inconsistent ball tosses which are directly associated with her diminishing confidence. Nonetheless, in 2013, under the tutelage of Nigel Sears, her ball tosses become more consistent, allowing her to build her game on her powerful first serves.

The pair first met in the second round of the 2005 NASDAQ-100 Open with Ivanovic winning in straight sets. Later in the year, Petrova reached the semifinals of the French Open by defeating Ivanovic in straight sets in the quarterfinals. In the next two matches both players won one, and both were in a round of 16. Ivanovic won two significant matches in 2007. First, she beat Petrova in the 4th round of Wimbledon after a rollercoaster three set match. Later in the summer Ivanovic won in straight sets in their only meeting in a final, in Los Angeles. At that time, it was 4–2 for Ivanovic in their head-to-head, but Petrova won the next two meetings in two close matches to level the result. However, Ivanovic won five of the next six meetings, including the quarterfinals of the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia when Petrova retired but after Ivanovic had won the first nine games, and the semifinals of the 2011 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, which Ivanovic won in straight sets.

Aside from her tennis career, she also studies finance at a university in Belgrade, and Spanish in her spare time. On 8 September 2007, Ivanovic became a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia, alongside Aleksandar Đorđević, Jelena Janković, Emir Kusturica and Novak Djokovic. She takes a special interest in the fields of education and child protection. Ivanovic 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".

Ivanovic has appeared as a character in Smash Court Tennis 3, released in 2007, Virtua Tennis 2009, released in 2009, Grand Slam Tennis for Wii, also released in 2009, Top Spin 4 and Virtua Tennis 4 both released in 2011. She is also featured in Grand Slam Tennis 2, released in 2012. She stars, among others, alongside Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Lindsay Davenport, Anna Chakvetadze, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova.

Ivanovic then played in Tokyo, losing to Urszula Radwańska in round two; she then competed at the China Open reaching the third round, losing to Romina Oprandi in straight sets. She came with a winning streak to Linz, having won there previously in 2008 and 2010, but her streak was finished in quarterfinals against qualifier Kirsten Flipkens. Ivanovic headed over to Moscow and made it all the way to the semifinal, having had a bye in the first round then defeating two qualifiers in straight sets. She lost to Samantha Stosur in three sets, despite winning the first.

Ivanovic started her clay-court season with a third straight loss to Garcia in Stuttgart, where she was defending finalist points. Prior to the Madrid Open, Ivanovic parted ways with coach Dejan Petrovic. After two months, Ivanovic managed to win back-to-back matches, reaching the third round where she lost to an in-form Carla Suárez Navarro in three sets. She then played in the Italian Open and lost in the second round to qualifier and eventual semifinalist, Daria Gavrilova, in three sets after failing to serve out the match in the third set. Ivanovic entered the French Open as the seventh seed. In the first and second rounds, she came back from a set down to beat Yaroslava Shvedova and Misaki Doi, and with her third-round victory over Donna Vekić, Ivanovic reached 100 wins at Grand Slam events. In the fourth round, she beat Ekaterina Makarova in three sets, and in the quarterfinals, she beat Elina Svitolina in straight sets to advance to the semifinals of a Major for the first time since she won the title in Paris back in 2008. She lost to Lucie Šafářová in two tight sets despite being up 5–2 in the first set.

In 2008, Ivanovic signed an endorsement deal with Rolex.

The pair first met in the fourth round of the 2005 NASDAQ-100 Open, Ivanovic coming back from a 5–3 final set defeat to win and notch her first ever career Top 10 victory. Ivanovic has won all of their significant meetings including their only Grand Slam encounter at the 2007 French Open en route to her first Grand Slam final and both their final meetings, at the 2007 Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin and the 2008 Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells. Kuznetsova's first victory over Ivanovic came at the 2006 Medibank International in Sydney, which remains her only win against Ivanovic in a WTA event, her other two coming both in Fed Cup encounters in 2008 and 2012.

The pair first met at the 2006 Generali Ladies Linz which Sharapova won in straight sets. Ivanovic beat Sharapova at the 2007 French Open in straight sets easily to advance to her first Grand Slam final. They would meet again at a Grand Slam, this time in the 2008 Australian Open final dubbed the "Glam Slam" final which Sharapova won in straight sets. After that match the pair did not meet for more than four years until the 2012 BNP Paribas Open where Sharapova won after Ivanovic retired after winning the first game in the second set. Ivanovic would then lose the next four meetings that followed.

Ivanovic started the year in Brisbane. Seeded third, Ivanovic reached her first semifinal since Indian Wells in 2009. She eventually bowed out to wildcard Justine Henin in Henin's first tournament since her return from retirement. Ivanovic was seeded 20th at the Australian Open, but lost to Gisela Dulko in the second round in three sets. She then participated in the opening round of the Fed Cup in Serbia's tie against Russia, and she went 0–2 in her singles matches and also lost doubles match.

Ivanovic announced that she would be working with Steffi Graf's former coach Heinz Günthardt on a trial basis during the spring North American hard-court season, suspending her relationship with the Adidas Player Development Program indefinitely. In her first match as Gunthardt's pupil, a one-set semifinal against reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters in the 2010 Billie Jean King Cup at Madison Square Garden, Ivanovic lost in a tiebreak, despite having held match point. After the match, Ivanovic stated that she had noted improvements in her game.

Ivanovic lost her opener to Vera Dushevina in Seoul as the 7th seed. Ivanovic then defeated Kleybanova, the Korea Open champion, in the first round of Tokyo, before again losing to Bartoli in straight sets. Ivanovic avenged her losses to Bartoli at the China Open, beating the Frenchwoman in straight sets. On her way to the quarterfinals, Ivanovic scored top-10 victory by defeating Elena Dementieva for the second time in 2010. Ivanovic fell to world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki.

Ivanovic was an offensive baseliner with an aggressive style of play. After winning the 2008 French Open and becoming No. 1, Ivanovic endured a decline in form. Many critics attributed this to lack of confidence. 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." She has since made some improvements to her playing style after appointing a new coach in 2010. As a result, she started to play with more confidence and won matches more consistently.

The relationship between pair has been strained. Both have openly admitted in the past to not liking each other. and have been involved in a number of high-profile spats on and off court. Ivanovic was criticized both by Janković and her mother after Ivanovic decided to withdraw from Serbia's Fed Cup World Group play-off tie against Slovakia, citing her poor form in 2010 which left Janković the only high-profile player to play the tie which Serbia lost 3–2. During the same weekend, Ivanovic was photographed having coffee with her boyfriend Adam Scott at the island resort of Palma, Majorca. Snezana Janković denounced Ivanovic in the Serbian press Another high-profile controversy was after the pair's first meeting in two years in the second round of the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open in Madrid where the match was marred however by an incident in which off court cameras appeared to catch Janković mocking Ivanovic's trademark fistpumps towards her mother and camp after the match. Janković admitted she found Ivanovic's fistpumps "irritating" but that it was not meant to be offensive and was in the heat of the moment. After their match in Indian Wells in 2011 however, Ivanovic stated she felt there were no real issues with Janković and both agreed that they have both put the past behind them, an opinion echoed again by Janković after their Australian Open encounter in 2013.

Ivanovic's inspiration to begin playing was Monica Seles, who at that time played for Yugoslavia. In 2010, Ivanovic adopted Basel as her home away-from-home. She spent her spare time training and relaxing there and was quoted as saying she "appreciates Swiss solitude" and "I enjoy training here, especially in the summer."

Ivanovic joined Serbia in the 2011 Fed Cup event. Ivanovic scored a point for Serbia by beating Daniela Hantuchová in straight sets but had to retire in her next match against Dominika Cibulková, as she renewed an injury from the beginning of the season. Despite that, Serbia beat Slovakia in the deciding doubles rubber, 3–2.

In Madrid, Ivanovic won her first three matches in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals, losing to Simona Halep in just one hour. Ivanovic gained revenge for her Stuttgart defeat against Sharapova at the Italian Open, whom she defeated in the third round in straight sets, thus becoming the only person to defeat Sharapova on clay that year. The win was significant most of all because she became the first player other than Serena Williams to defeat Sharapova on clay since 2011, ended her winning streak in Rome (Sharapova was 47–3 on the surface and was undefeated in Rome since 2011) and was the only player to beat the Russian on clay in 2014. It was also the first time since the semifinals at the 2007 French Open that Ivanovic had defeated Sharapova. Against Serena Williams, in her second appearance in the Rome semifinals, she lost in three sets; she was the only player to take a set off Williams in the whole tournament.

At the 2012 Roger's Cup, Ivanovic was double bageled by Roberta Vinci in the second round. It didn't seem to affect Ivanovic at the US Open as she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since winning the 2008 French Open title, and her first quarterfinal in New York. Ivanovic defeated qualifier Elina Svitolina and Sofia Arvidsson in straight sets, came back from a set down to beat young American Sloane Stephens in the third round followed by Tsvetana Pironkova in the fourth round. In the quarterfinals Ivanovic was soundly defeated by eventual champion Serena Williams for the second year in a row.

In 2014, Ivanovic defeated Sharapova for the first time since 2007 at the Rome Masters in straight sets. Their match at the Cincinnati Masters was a dramatic and controversial one. Ivanovic was up a set and a double break before a bad call was made that affected Ivanovic and allowed Sharapova back into the match to steal the second set. Then, in the third set, Ivanovic was up 1–0, 15–15 before she took a medical timeout, after which Sharapova took control of the set. Up 4–3 with a break, Sharapova double faulted on break point and sarcastically said to the umpire to "check her blood pressure" referring to the medical timeout that Ivanovic took earlier in the set. Sharapova broke right back to serve for the match. Sharapova had two match points but failed to convert both. Ivanovic would eventually prevail, recording her first win over Sharapova on the hard courts.

In September 2014, Ivanovic began a relationship with German professional footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger. They married on 12 July 2016, in Venice. In 2018 she announced the birth of a baby boy in Chicago. In 2019, she gave birth to their second son.

The pair did not need to wait long to meet in 2015, with both drawn as the top 2 seeds in the Brisbane International. Both players qualified for the final, but it was Sharapova who once again clinched victory on the hard courts, despite dropping the first set to Ivanovic in a tiebreak.

In the first round of the Madrid Open, Ivanovic beat qualifier Kateřina Siniaková in three sets, however, she lost to another qualifier Louisa Chirico in the second round. At the Italian Open, she beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round, but lost to Christina McHale in the second round. Ivanovic had a tough first-round match win at the French Open after she beat Océane Dodin in three sets. She defeated Kurumi Nara in the second round, but lost to Elina Svitolina in the third round. Ivanovic only won 15 matches in 2016 with the last coming in June. She played her career's last professional match in the first round of the US Open against Denisa Allertova and lost in straight sets. On 28 December, having been absent with injury since August, Ivanovic announced her retirement stating that she was no longer able to play to her high standards and win big tournaments, meaning it was time to move on from professional tennis and start a new chapter in her life.

At the 2017 French Open, a ceremony was held on Court Philippe Chatrier to honour Ana Ivanovic.

Ivanovic appeared in a number of international magazines like FHM (Germany, United Kingdom, Australia), Vanity Fair (Spain), Cosmopolitan (Serbia), Vanidades (Mexico), Grazia (Serbia), The Best Shop (Serbia), Sports Illustrated (South Africa) and Harper's Bazaar (Serbia). In early 2017, Ivanovic announced she was joining tennis technology company PlaySight Interactive as a brand ambassador.

Happy 26th birthday Ana!

Wish You Ana perfect health, personal happiness and professionally much better season than at 25!!!