Goran
Ivanišević

So skilled are professional tennis players that it becomes easy to forget what they have in common with the rest of us: Even in the heat of battle, they remain humans, engaged in a struggle to balance head and heart.

Goran Ivanisevic never let us forget. This 2020 International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee was visibly human, a left-handed, big-serving bubbling stew. An Ivanisevic match was frequently flavored by a self-critical remark, a shrug or a smile. As he noted, there was the good Goran and the bad Goran, a personal civil war, housed inside a lanky 6’ 4” frame.

Many tennis icons are identified with a single tournament. Jimmy Connors and the US Open. Rafael Nadal and Roland Garros. Martina Navratilova and Wimbledon. But these legends also generated significant results elsewhere. For Ivanisevic, the road leads largely to and from the All England Club. Of the seven times he reached a Grand Slam singles semifinal, six came at Wimbledon.

Wimbledon had made him, Ivanisevic at the age of 18 reaching the semis in 1990. It would break him – three times a runner-up (’92, ’94, ’98). Finally, it would take him – to the heights, when, in 2001, as a literal and figurative wild card, Ivanisevic would at last earn tennis’ greatest title. “All my life I was dreaming to win Wimbledon, and hugging my father, standing up there in that box,” said Ivanisevic that day. “I didn't know what I was doing. I wanted to dance. I wanted to jump.”

EARLY YEARS

Ivanisevic was born in Split, a city of approximately 250,000 people, located in what was then known as Yugoslovia. His mother, Gorana, worked as a chemical engineer. Goran’s father, Srdjan, was an engineering professor. Srdjan also played tennis, which Goran began when he was seven years old. Coming of age in tennis in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Ivanisevic was captivated by another lively lefty, Hall of Famer John McEnroe.

By age 12, he owned his signature shot, a lethal left-handed serve. It was this simple: turn, toss, swing. To support private coaching for their promising son, Srjdan and Gorana sold their house. A key mentor during this time was another left-handed Split native, ’73 Roland Garros runner-up Nikki Pilic. Within a few years, Ivanisevic became one of the best juniors in the world, his peers including such future Hall of Famers as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier,  and Michael Chang.

His first big splash in tennis came at Roland Garros in 1990. Then ranked 51, Ivanisevic upset second-seeded Boris Becker in the first round, going on to reach the quarterfinals. The next month was even better, Ivanisevic making it to the final four at Wimbledon. By the end of 1990, he was ranked ninth in the world.

WIMBLEDON: GORAN'S GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL

Two years later at Wimbledon, he took it one step further. Knocking off future Hall of Famers Mark Woodforde, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, and Sampras, Ivanisevic reached the finals versus Agassi. But despite serving 37 aces, he came up short, losing it 6-4 in the fifth. Says Ivanisevic, “Still I thought, “OK, I still have time to win this tournament.’”

There came two more losses in the Wimbledon finals, each versus Sampras, the man, Ivanisevic jokes, “ruined at least 20 years of my life.” In 1994, Ivanisevic was beaten in straight sets, 7-6, 7-6, 6-0. And then, in 1998, more heartbreak. After winning the first set 7-6, Ivanisevic in the second set tiebreaker held two set points. But Sampras escaped to level the match, and would go on to win, 6-2 in the fifth.

ALL THE GORANS

Through all those years of glory and agony, Ivanisevic blossomed into one of tennis’ most engaging personalities and successful players. He would win 22 ATP Tour singles titles, earn two bronze medals at the ’92 Summer Olympics, attain a career-high ranking of number two in the world. Crowds never knew what to expect from him. Good Goran? Bad Goran? As he saw it, that wasn’t even the whole picture. Says Ivanisevic, “One is going left, the other one is going right, and the third one is watching and observing.”

A CHANGING NATION

But the levity Ivanisevic brought to the tennis world belied troubles back home. The war between Croatia and Serbia raged throughout 1991, keeping Ivanisevic away from home for nearly a year. Even phone calls to his family were an ordeal. By January 1992, he identified himself no longer as a Yugoslav, but as a Croat, triggering death threats when he played that month in Australia. “It makes me tougher,” Ivanisevic said in a 1993 New York Times article, “I try to fight to the last point. I see people fighting here. I want to fight like they’re fighting.”

Yet as the 20th century ended, Ivanisevic appeared headed to be remembered more as a cult player than a champion. As Hall of Famer Ion Tiriac, for a time Ivanisevic’s manager, once said, “To be an artist, Goran has to create, and play with his emotions. Only insane people don’t fear or react or show feeling. Goran has more sense than most of the ‘normal’ people I know.”

WIMBLEDON WILD CARD

No Hollywood screenwriter could better script Ivanisevic’s 2001 Wimbledon. He was 29, earlier that year suffering a shoulder injury so debilitating that he considered retirement. Ranked 125 in the world, Ivanisevic only got into the tournament as a wild card. But as he knocked off one opponent after another on his way to the semis, Ivanisevic felt increasingly comfortable. His victims included a trio of men who’d each hold the world number one ranking – Carlos Moya and a pair of Hall of Famers, Andy Roddick and Marat Safin. “I was playing better and better,” says Ivanisevic, “happy and happier, and everything was there.”

Of course, no movie is successful without plot twists. On a Friday afternoon, Ivanisevic entered Centre Court versus British star Tim Henman. The two having split the first two sets, Henman raced through the third, 6-0, and went up 2-1 in the fourth, the native son seemingly a man of destiny – at which point his homeland’s penchant for rain threw Ivanisevic a lifeline. “From that moment,” says Ivanisevic, “I knew that I’m in the final. Don’t ask me how, but that was it.”

The next day, Ivanisevic recovered to take the fourth in a tiebreaker and go up 3-2 in the fifth. Rain again. Finally, on Sunday, Ivanisevic required 14 minutes to close it out, 7-5, 6-7 (6), 0-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3. His word for this three-day struggle: “magical.”

The one-day delay compelled the All England Club to offer 10,000 tickets on a first-come, first-served basis, creating a festive atmosphere dubbed “People’s Monday.” Ivanisevic’s opponent was Rafter, the previous year’s finalist. As the two played one rapid-fire serve-and-volley point after another, this was exceptionally dramatic gunslinger tennis. But even after losing the fourth set, 6-2, Ivanisevic’s nerves held up. With Rafter serving in the fifth at 7-7, 15-30 in the fifth, Ivanisevic struck two straight forehand return winners.

“Everybody's out of the chairs, out of the minds,” he says. “And I'm sitting there, and I say, ‘Okay, now one Goran, three Gorans, whoever, wherever they are. This is for every Goran in the world. It's the first time ever I'm serving for the Wimbledon victory. This is it. This is your life. This is everything.’”

Of course it wasn’t going to be easy. Championship point number one came at 40-30: double-fault. Championship point number two: double-fault. It indeed was all too human, Ivanisevic between points kneeling, praying, kissing the ball. Championship point number three: a lob winner from Rafter. Finally, on his fourth championship point, Ivanisevic threw a 109 mph second serve down the middle. Rafter’s forehand went into the net.

“It meant everything to me,” says Ivanisevic of his 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 triumph. “All my dreams came through.”

Upon returning home, Ivanisevic estimates that 200,000 people celebrated with him in the streets of Split. “Everybody stopped, everybody was happy,” he says. “The whole city was like one big party for a couple of days.”

GORAN AS COACH

Years after his playing days ended in 2004, Ivanisevic became a coach. His first most notable charge was fellow Croat Marin Cilic, Ivanisevic in Cilic’s corner during his run to the 2014 US Open title. More recently, in 2018 he began to work with Novak Djokovic. Remarkably, the two had first met nearly 20 years earlier, the two hitting when the young Djokovic had also trained at Pilic’s academy. “I was surprised when that phone call [from Djokovic],” says Ivanisevic. “He’s a great guy. And for us he’s much easier because it’s the same mentality, same language and you know to understanding is much easier.” The partnership with Djokovic concluded in March 2024.

HALL OF FAMER

And so Ivanisevic will make his first trip to Newport. “It’s going to be a beautiful three days,” he says of International Tennis Hall of Fame Induction Weekend. “Three days that probably I’m never going to forget in my life.” Three days for all the Gorans.        

By Joel Drucker, ITHF Historian-At-Large