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Serbian tennis stars
Posted 2007-06-05 02:42 under Sports by Viktor Marković / 9 comments
by Bganon
(you can read Bganon’s latest analysys here, after Novak’s win over Federer)
Say it quietly but the best known sporting stars from Serbia these days are tennis players. In that spirit lets talk about the best of them.
Novak Djokovic is the best known and is currently world number 6 and rising. At the tender age of 20 He’s won a number of top ranked tournaments but has yet to win the major tournaments.
In my opinion Novak in reality is currently the third best player in the world – behind Federer (the ‘Peter Perfect’ of tennis) and Nadal (clay court specialist who is as young as Novak). Nole has progressed greatly in the last couple of years but above all his mental attitude on and off court is a huge plus.
Up until a year ago there were problems particularly off court. Newspapers speculated on whether he would seek foreign citizenship and one of his relatives fanned those flames. The problems seemed to centre on sporting infrastructure in Serbia, difficulties in obtaining visas when playing in foreign tournaments – that means he has had to line up outside foreign embassies and the odd issue with the Serbian tennis officials.
However, with his breaking through to the big time any possible plans to relocate have been completely shelved. Djokovic seems completely aware of the importance of his part as a role model in Serbia and as a representative of his country. He has become a huge star in Serbia.
On court the man is still improving.
Janko Tipsarevic ranked 80 deserves to be mentioned too. He may not currently be in the same class as Novak but he has also won the odd tournament including the Zagreb Open (read it and weep Croatians!) last month. With all the focus on other Serbian tennis stars you have to feel for the guy.
Nenad Zimonjic is a top doubles player. He’s regularly ranked in the top ten doubles players in the world. Doubles may not be as fashionable as singles but this player is a class act. More importantly he may prove to be the key man needed to ensure a successful Davis Cup campaign.
Jelena Jankovic is currently rated fifth. In the last year her progress has been remarkable and she looks like a changed player. A year ago Jankovic looked to have serious problems, her on-court rages neither helped spur her on to win following points or win over crowds. Jankovic freely concedes that a year or so ago she considered giving up tennis.
Mental attitude has again been key. On court she has changed completely and crowds now empathise and support her. Her previous persona caused some other players to accuse her of using cheat tactics. My comment on this is that she had her dubious moments but they were not bourn through a desire to cheat, it was how her self doubt manifested itself. Perhaps its bold to say it but the Mrs Hyde side of her character may be gone for good. Now we have smiley ‘JJ’ as she has been christened.
She’s a delight to watch both in terms of tennis and attitude.
Ana Ivanovic is ranked just behind JJ at seventh in the womens game. Unfortunately Ana hasn’t quite worked out her issues yet. For certain she is successful but there seems to be a barrier she can’t get past.
Watching Ivanovic can be a frustrating experience. There’s no doubt that Ana is easy on the eye and has the stature, power and shots to become a world beater but her movement around the court, unforced errors and fitness are still issues. Of much more concern is her mental attitude. She appears to lose concentration and sometimes looks as if she lacks the instinct needed to kill a game off. On the plus side she has improved her service and if progress continues she will likely have the fastest serve in the womens game. This is an advantage but she should not focus too much on it otherwise she will become a one dimensional power player. It’s really important that Ivanovic gets a good coach and learns a different approach.
The stars are a not only a breath of fresh air for Serbian tennis but also for tennis as a whole.
Both Djokovic and Jankovic communicate and connect with the crowd. Djokovic regularly applauds an opponent for a good shot and both laugh and gesticulate when facing seemingly unbeatable opponents. Many a great tennis player lacks charisma. Not these two.
So what will be the knock on effects of Serbian tennis success? Will our sporting ambassadors be able to help improve the image of the country and to what extent?
Hard to say, first off the obvious – tennis and sporting infrastructure will improve and more emphasis will be placed upon individuals sports in schools – in contrast to the previous focus on team sports. This should help ensure that Serbia will have more tennis stars in the future.
Secondly one can look at our neighbours Croatia to learn the odd lesson and see what to expect. Goran Ivanisevic played a huge role in Croatia being their foremost sport star and is forever associated with Croatia gaining nation state status. The recent Croatian experience culminated with their victory of the Davis Cup last year. Clearly Ivanisevic’s success spurred the current generation of tennis stars from Croatia including Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic.
It remains an open question to what extent tennis players can impact the image of a country but the charisma of the current crop of Serb stars ensures that the country will receive maximum benefit possible. All of the current players will make efforts to represent the country in a positive way and their sympathetic behaviour (in stark contrast to the ‘balkan warrior’ style of say Ivanisevic, which I suppose is also sympathetic in some way) will contradict the image of the ‘Other’ that tennis fans expect from this part of the world. It’s truly no surprise that Britain tried to poach Novak – he even looks like one of their attractive, well mannered, middle class types.
Go on Novak, Jelena, Ana, Janko and Nenad. Serbia is proud of you.
Blackbird on 05/06/07 06:22 AM
Thank you, Bg Anon. Good article that also shows your knowledge of the game.
I hope none of Serbia’s tennis players ever stoop to the level of Goran Ivanisevic. He was never less charming than when he pretended to be shooting a machine gun at Serbs, and with such relish.
Viktor on 06/06/07 03:45 AM
Great article, Bganon.
Things are going super so far: Ana and Jelena are in semifinals of Roland Garros, and Novak is in the quarterfinals, while Zimonjic is in semifinals for doubles!
bganon on 06/06/07 05:38 PM
Yes, it very good – going according to plan.
Now are the crucial tests though, Jankovic faces the best player in the world at the moment Henin, Ivanovic faces Sarapova and Novak faces Nadal.
I’d be absolutely over the moon if we won 2 out of those 3 but I’d still be delighted if we get 1. However, realistically speaking, its a tall order.
If both our women got through and met in the final I’d toast it with champagne.
Jelena can beat Henin but the problem is that Henin rarely has an off-day. Sarapova has off-days but so does Ivanovic, however, if Ivanovic plays to her ability she can beat Sarapova. Noles best hope is that Nadal played a long and tiring 5 set game against Moya. I only watched the first set so dont know how that ended yet. Its also good that Nole finished Andrejev off today in straight sets.
bganon on 06/06/07 05:45 PM
Blackbird thanks for saying so.
Well there was a time when I was pretty pissed with Ivanisevic. Long story but I forgave and even supported his run at Wimbledon. It was not easy to forget all the stupid things he said in the 1990’s and his involvement in the flag waving nonsense. But perhaps I did it for myself, I was going out of my way wanting him to lose every time he played. That kind of attitude can make a person sick and it made me feel ill to behave that way whilst watching tennis.
In the end he was just another pawn and his emotive ways ensured that he fell for the nationalism just like many others.
Viktor on 07/06/07 04:25 PM
Ana Ivanovic managed to beat Sarapova and go into finals, while JJ is still struggling as we speak…
bganon on 07/06/07 06:27 PM
One out of two is a good result. An all Serbian final was probably too much to ask for – this year, although I expect it will happen sometime.
Ana played a very good game and Sarapova crumbled. Sarapova looked poor, maybe the wost I’ve ever seen her play but even had she been at her best Ana was looking to win this one. Congratulations to her, its a great achievement.
Jelena faced the best tennis player in the world at the moment and just didnt have an answer. Henin is determination personified.
Today the courts in Paris looked fast which would suit Ana’s style of play over Henin’s in the final but they forecast rain in Paris (whats new?) which means that Ana’s best chance (overpowering Henin) will likely be taken away.
If Ivanovic can play like today – with a completely positive attitude she can do it. If Henin wins the first set without difficultly I fear for Ana.
Marin on 08/06/07 11:28 PM
I find these comments “read it and weep Croatians” a bit stupid even if they’re partly meant as a joke. Tipsi is a great player and very attractive for the audience, he’s not a cold cyborg, I watched him in Zg and supported him. I did the same thing for Đoković in Umag (the majority of the audience in fact did so) and will be doing the same thing in front of the TV for Ana tomorrow. Embroidering nationalism in every possible way (see also Ivanisevic), come on?! Why can’t you stick to the game and positive influence of them only, there’s plenty of material for that…
bganon on 11/06/07 01:46 PM
Marin I think that competition with ones neighbours in sport is a completely normal thing. Thus the ‘read it and weep’ comment.
In this blog we tend not to provide a saccarine gloss on things either so if I was to write about Jelena Dokic of course I’d mention her radical father as well as her tennis. I could also have mentioned Djokovic’s Serb three finger salute which he did some time back.
Some people whether sportsmen or from other spheres of life tied their mast to nationalism. As I mentioned I have understanding for this to some degree, but that was their choice and this will never be forgotten.
I can give you a couple more of examples – Kostelic in Croatia (an extreme example) or Sinisa Mihajlovic in Serbia. Its kind of too bad if they are not only remembered for their sporting achievements.
Nick Thompson on 30/04/08 05:37 AM
Hey who can forget the extreme nationalism and overtly racist comments of Goran Ivanesevic. He once quipped to gleeful journalists that he was “practicing shooting Serbs…”
How sick. It was something that should have been condemned by all, but we all know that no one cares about lowly Serbs, It’s ok to say that. Sad but true.