News
14/04/02 PARIS (Reuters) - Croat Goran Ivanisevic has pulled out of the Monte Carlo Masters Series and Brazilian title holder Gustavo Kuerten has confirmed he will not take part in the claycourt event starting Monday, organizers said.
Ivanisevic, who played in the Davis Cup quarter-final in Argentina last weekend, is nursing a recurrent shoulder injury.
"As we feared, Ivanisevic has decided to pull out," a statement said.
07/04/02
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic and Ivan Ljubicic recovered to beat Guillermo Canas and Lucas Arnold 4-6 2-6 6-3 6-0 8-6 in the doubles and reduce Argentina's lead to 2-1 in their Davis Cup quarter-final Saturday.
The Argentines, having won both Friday's singles, looked set to cruise into the semifinals when Canas and Arnold took the first two sets at the Buenos Aires Lawen Tennis Club and seemed to be on course to settle the tie with a day to spare.
But Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic, who did not play in the singles because of a nagging shoulder injury, and Ljubicic found new strength after a two-hour rain interruption in the middle of the fourth set.
The Croatians won nine straight games to pull the match level at 2-2 and then won a hard-fought deciding set in the 14th game.
Croatia began cautiously, playing from the baseline while the Argentines, who won the opening set when Canas served to love in the 10th game, attacked the net.
Ljubicic made numerous unforced errors as Argentina romped away with the second set in half an hour.
TIDE TURNS
But the Croatians gave the first signs they would not be easy to beat when they raced into a 3-0 lead in the third set.
The crowd, which had so far given their wildest cheers when the country's former women's number one Gabriela Sabatini took her seat, began to get behind their players.
Canas and Arnold pulled back to 3-3, breaking both Croatians, but it was a short-lived recovery.
As rain began to drizzle down, the visiting doubles pair took the set by winning the next three games.
Ivanisevic became stronger while Ljubicic improved, finding the form that helped him take the first set of his singles match against Gaston Gaudio Friday, and the pair reeled off the fourth set to love.
The match was interrupted for two hours because of heavy rain midway through the set and both pairs came out refreshed for a titanic struggle in the deciding set, which lasted one minute short of an hour.
Argentina failed to capitalize on a match point when leading 5-4 and then handed Croatia the initiative when Canas lost his serve to hand them a 7-6 lead.
An Ivanisevic volley gave Croatia victory on their first set point to keep alive the country's hopes of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time.
Juan Ignacio Chela meets Ljubicic in Sunday's first reverse singles and Gaudio is scheduled to play Ivo Karlovic, who stood in for Ivanisevic Friday, as Argentina seek their first semifinal berth since 1990.
The winners of the tie go on to meet Russia.
26/03/02
MIAMI (Reuters) - Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic said on Saturday that it may finally be time to pay up.
For the second time in as many tournaments the 14th seeded Croat was forced out by his troublesome left shoulder, retiring from his opening round match at the Nasdaq-100 Open Masters while leading Argentine Franco Squillari 4-3.
And with his shoulder and another appearance at Wimbledon hanging by a thread, Ivanisevic thinks maybe God is trying to tell him something.
"I had my dream," Ivanisevic said. "I said last year, if somebody told me you can win Wimbledon and not play tennis ever again, I'd pick win Wimbledon.
"Maybe God heard me and said, 'Ok, it's enough for you'."
More painful than his shoulder for the fiery Croat are thoughts that he may not be able to defend the title he claimed in five delirious sets from Australia's Patrick Rafter last July.
On the brink of retirement, Ivanisevic arrived at the gates of the All-England Club last year hat-in-hand and penned one of the year's most compelling stories by turning a wildcard into unexpected triumph.
LAST CHAPTER
But the 30-year-old Croat believes he has one last chapter to write in his remarkable tale and if his shoulder has only one more tournament left in it, Ivanisevic wants that tournament to be Wimbledon.
With surgery no longer an option, Ivanisevic said he was considering not playing anymore events and resting his shoulder until Wimbledon but cringed at the thought of nearly three months without tennis.
"I want to be there at one o'clock on Monday in London," said Ivanisevic, adding that he was unlikely to play Davis Cup tennis in two weeks when Croatia travels to Buenos Aires to take on Argentina.
"I want to play Wimbledon, that's my priority.
"The plan is I take two, three months off and play Wimbledon...that is the only solution.
"Maybe I might see how it feels and then play the French Open.
"I don't know, I tell you it's tough. I'm going to go crazy two and a half months."
"But the worse think is if I take the whole clay season off and I come to Wimbledon and then it's the same pain then I will hang myself in London somewhere.
"That would be the worse scenario."
It has been a frustrating season for the hard-hitting Croat.
Since crashing out in the second round of the Australian Open Ivanisevic has not won a match, failing to clear the first hurdle at Milan, Rotterdam and Dubai, withdrawing from Indian Wells and now retiring from Miami.
"The tear is just getting bigger and bigger and the pain is getting more and more which I cannot handle," admitted Ivanisevic. "The doctor told me it's a lottery.
"One week can be good, three weeks can be bad.
"That's why I didn't want to operate last year because I thought with the amount of pain I had last year I could survive another season.
"But I wasn't thinking it was going to be worse which it is."
23/03/02
I WAS WRONG! I was wrong! Yay! Goran IS playing in the Nasdaq-100. He's playing Franco Squillari of Argentina today and he's in the second round too!
o Liverpool Grasscourt Event Given Green Light
LONDON (Reuters) - Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic (will be allowed to warm up for the defense of his grand slam crown on Liverpool public park tennis courts after the ATP ruled that the event was not in breach of tour rules.
The Liverpool International Tournament, which will also feature former world number one Marat Safin, had been thrown into doubt in its inaugural year over an ATP ruling which states tournaments held in the same week must not be staged within 100 miles of each other.
The concern rested on the fact that the Lawn Tennis Association's grasscourt event in Nottingham fell within that distance -- as the crow flies.
But on Friday the ATP backed the Liverpool event after discussions with the LTA and the tournament promoter settled that by road Nottingham was outside the 100 mile limit.
Promoter Mike Ross said: "I'm delighted we have been able to resolve this issue. I understand the LTA's concerns and that they had a right to seek clarification from the ATP.
"It was a hurdle we had to jump and it's fantastic that it has been settled in such a quick time.
"It's all systems go now and I'm looking forward to an exciting week of tennis. Of course the beauty of this is that tennis fans have two top quality events to enjoy before Wimbledon."
An LTA spokesman echoed Ross's comments. "The LTA remains committed to bringing top class internationals to all parts of Britain," he said. "Now that the agreement has been reached we can look forward to a highly successful program of grasscourt tennis this summer."
The grasscourt tournament at Calderstones Park, in the leafy suburbs of Liverpool, north-west England, begins on June 16.
The 24-man event will be the first major tennis tournament in Britain to be held in a public park.
Organizers are currently preparing the courts and a tented village will be created for the event, complete with an 6,500-seater arena.
21/03/02
Roddick, Ivanisevic Nominated for Laureus World Sports Awards
Two ATP tennis players were named nominees for the 2002 Laureus World Sports Awards in a press conference at the New York Athletic Club, it was announced today.
American tennis star Andy Roddick of Omaha, Neb., was nominated for Laureus World Newcomer of the Year, while defending Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia was a nominee in the Laureus World Comeback of the Year category.
Roddick joins fellow women's tennis stars Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin of Belgium; football star Steven Gerrard of England; and F-1 motor sports star Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia.
Ivanisevic, who claimed his all-England crown in a five-set thriller over Australia's Patrick Rafter, will be joined in the World Comeback of Year category by American golfer John Daly, basketball legend Michael Jordan, German golfer Bernhard Langer and hockey star Mario Lemieux of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penquins.
Members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, a group of 42 sporting legends, of which 13 are in New York including Edwin Moses, Boris Becker, Bobby Charlton, Sebastian Coe, Kapil Dev, Emerson Fittipaldi, Kip Keino, Nawal El Moutawakel, Robby Naish, Ilie Nastase, Morne du Plessis, Hugo Porta and Daley Thompson announced the nominations a day after they rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and laid a memorial wreath at Ground Zero.
The eventual winners of the 2002 Laureus World Sports Awards, as voted upon by the Laureus World Sports Academy, will be unveiled during a television ceremony staged in the regal surrounds of Monaco's Grimaldi Forum, under the High Patronage of HSH Prince Albert of Monaco, on the night of May 14.
The Laureus World Sports Awards were established in 1999 by Founding Patrons DaimlerChrysler and Richemont, who are represented through their premier brands Mercedes-Benz and Cartier.
The awards honour the achievements of the world's greatest sportsmen and women on an annual basis, and also contribute to social change through the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.
o Goran's name is also missing from the draw of the Nasdaq 100-Open in Miami, so I'm guessing that his shoulder's still in bad shape.
13/03/02
Right, this is all very weird, but Goran's name has suddenly replaced with some other guy's. The only thing I could come up with is that he's retired from the match/tourney. Which is horrible.
10/03/02
Goran's up against Rainer Schuettler of Germany in the Indian Wells tourney and he's seeded 14th.
4/03/02 (Yes, I know how incredibly late this is)
DUBAI (Reuters) - Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic said he was clean out of ideas Monday after yet another characteristically schizophrenic performance saw him slump to a first round defeat at the Dubai Open.
The Croatian added that if he suffered a slump in form similar to the one which saw him end 2000 ranked 129 in the world, he would bring the curtain down on his career.
The seventh seed crashed 6-3 6-4 to Germany's Nicolas Kiefer in the Gulf state -- an upset which ended an 11-match losing streak by Kiefer stretching back to last October.
And having experienced a dramatic loss of form before -- one which saw him lose in qualifying for the Australian Open last year before bouncing back to triumph at Wimbledon as a wildcard -- he fears that he might be on the verge of going through the same sorry process again.
"At the moment I don't know whether to come in or stay back, what to hit or not to hit," the enigmatic 30-year-old said.
"I don't know why. I'm scared it's going to happen again, but this time I'm not going to try to get back.
"If it happens again that's going to be it... It's not fun to do that, so I hope it's just this couple of weeks."
24/02/02
Goran will be playing in the Dubai Tennis Championships in...Dubai, starting tomorrow. He's seeded 7th and will be up against Nicolas Kiefer of Germany in the first round.
19/02/02
Monday (18/2)
The 1996 Rotterdam champion, Goran Ivanisevic, suffered a 7-6(3), 6-4 loss against Swiss qualifier Ivo Heuberger. The eight-seeded Croatian played in this event for the ninth time in his career and has suffered a total of five opening-round losses in Rotterdam.
"I served very bad, and I had no returns. I played OK from the back of the court, and I had a lot of chances. I donít know what happened. Today I had no rhythm," said Ivanisevic. "For sure it was the worst match of the year for me, but that's life, it can happen. Nobody gives anything for free," continued the 30-year-old.
11/02/02
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) -- Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic ousted Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), helping Croatia advance into the second-round of Davis Cup World Group.
"I am happy because we won, but I am not satisfied with the way I was playing -- much too defensive," said Ivanisevic.
Ivanisevic served well throughout the match, leaving no room for Schuettler.
Although Schuettler was leading 2-0 in a third set, Ivanisevic reached 4-2, closing the match with an ace.
The left-handed Wimbledon champion overcame problems that plagued him in his match Friday, when he left the court four times to change his contact lenses. He also said he had pain in his left hand.
In a second match of the day, Ivan Ljubicic defeated Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 (1), 6-4.
With today's win, Croatia has reached its first World Group quarterfinals since the country gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
Germany was deprived of key player Tommy Haas. He withdrew from his initial agreement to play in Zagreb because of a dispute with the German Tennis Federation.
Croatia advances to the next round of Davis Cup World Group to face Argentina in a tie scheduled to be played in April.
10/02/02
In Zagreb, Croatia took a 2-1 lead over Germany after Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and Ivan Lubicic beat Germany's Michael Kohlmann and David Prinosil 6-4 6-4 7-5.
9/02/02
Germany is tied with Croatia 1-1
Rainer Schuettler (GER) d. Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) 5-7 7-6(3) 6-3 7-6(5)
Goran Ivanisevic (CRO) d. Nicolas Kiefer (GER) 7-6(3) 6-3 6-4
Goran Ivanisevic/Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) vs. Michael Kohlmann/David Prinosil (GER)
Goran Ivanisevic (CRO) vs. Rainer Schuettler (GER)
Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) vs. Nicolas Kiefer (GER)
3/02/02
The first round of the Davis Cup 2002 between Croatia and Germany will be played in the Dom Sports Hall, Zagreb, CRO, from the Feb 08 - Feb 10.
| CROATIA | GERMANY |
| Captain: Niki Pilic | Captain: Michael Stich |
| Goran Ivanisevic | Tommy Haas |
| Ivan Ljubicic | Rainer Schuettler |
| Zeljko Krajen | Nicolas Kiefer |
| Ivo Karlovic | David Prinosil |
31/01/02
Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic wasted three second-set match points before retiring in the third, with unseeded Czech opponent Michal Tabara leading 3-0. Fans booed the Croat, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, as he left the court. Ivanisevic later explained that he had a sore throat and felt weak when he decided to give up.
Tabara, ranked 117th in the ATP lists, advanced on a 5-7, 7-6 (7), 3-0 score.
Ivanisevic, a two-time champion in Milan, had a match point on 6-5 in the second set and then two at 6-5 and 7-6 in the tie break.
``I could hardly move my legs,'' Ivanisevic said. ``Now I'll prepare for the Davis Cup match.''
Croatia will play Germany next week.
27/01/02
Goran's seeded 2nd in the Milan Indoors tourney (28th Jan-3rd Feb). Sorry, haven't been able to find any info on his draw yet.
16/01/02
MELBOURNE, Australia (Reuters) - Goran Ivanisevic was caught up in a series of upsets at the Australian Open on Wednesday night, but the Croatian says life is much brighter for him now.
``Yeah, I lost but I have got my contact lenses now so I can see properly. It is like somebody has turned on the lights,'' the Wimbledon champion said after his second round loss to France's Jerome Golmard.
``Sure, I lost and you know, it is disappointing, but I played well ... I can leave with my head held high,'' he said after the 6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 defeat under floodlights.
``I was fighting, I had fun and everybody was happy. Last year I lost first-round quallies (qualifying) but this time I can leave with pride, playing well.''
Ivanisevic, seeded 10th, wilted under the Frenchman's firepower, admitting he did not know what to do.
``I think the match was very good ... he played great and I don't think he could do any better,'' he said.
``I served good and it didn't matter how hard I served he just hit better and better. I tried my best but nothing was working.
``He has had problems before, sometimes he goes crazy, you know, but he is a very talented player. You think you have hit a winner and he hits just something amazing back.''
The 28-year-old Golmard was thrilled with his victory.
``I am so happy to win this match against Goran because it really is a dream to do this,'' he said.
``I really just played my best tennis tonight. I lost to him two times before and this time I managed to serve unbelievably well.
``It was difficult for me to focus on my game because Goran made some jokes tonight but for me, I was very nervous.''
15/01/02
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Goran Ivanisevic can work wonders with a racket, but he's not much good with a gun.
During nine days of compulsory military service in the Croatian army, Ivanisevic said he had a lot of trouble learning how to reassemble an assault rifle in a hurry.
``With the Kalashnikov, you have to dismantle it in 40 seconds and put it back together in 60 seconds, at which I was terrible,'' he told the ATP Insider magazine this month.
``I could undo it in 40 seconds but assembling it in 60 seconds, no way. I was thinking if I was in a war, I would be dead in two seconds.''
The Croatian military has allowed the Wimbledon champion considerable leeway to pursue his tennis career.
``It was just tough to wake up that early, but you get used to everything,'' said Ivanisevic, who advanced to the second round of the Australian Open (news - web sites) on Monday with a win over Martin Damm. ``You do some exercise, you go to shoot, you learn. You have to be there four or five hours, then they let me do my things.''
oGoran's match tomorrow will be in the Rod Laver Arena again, after Venus Williams' match at 7pm (OZ time).
14/01/02
Wahoo! Goran beat Damm 4/6 7/5 7/6(4) 6/4! Yay! He meets Jerome Golmard of France next.
13/01/02
ATP Awards
Goran Ivanisevic, the Wimbledon champion who jumped from 129 on the ATP Entry System at the end of 2000 to No. 12 by winning his first career Grand Slam title, was voted Most Improved Player by his fellow professionals. Ivanisevic also improved his match wins total from 14 to 29 from the previous season.
2001 ATP Award Winners
Player of the Year - Lleyton Hewitt
Most Improved Player - Goran Ivanisevic
Doubles Team of the Year - Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge
Comeback Player of the Year - Guillermo Canas
Newcomer of the Year - Andy Roddick
Fans' Favourite - Marat Safin
Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship - Pat Rafter
12/01/02
Correction: Goran's seeded 11th, not 10th in the Australian Open.
He's in the third quarter of the draw and will play Martin Damm of the Czech Republic in the first round.
10/01/02
Rusedski Snaps Losing Streak Against Ailing Ivanisevic
Nine breaks of serve and just 15 aces between them! What's going on? The expected servefest between Greg Rusedski and Goran Ivanisevic gave way to a more fan-friendly rallying contest Thursday as Rusedski finally snapped his career nine-match losing streak against the Wimbledon champion, who continues to battle a shoulder injury. Rusedski won 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 to advance to the Heineken Open semifinals, where he will play Jiri Novak.
oGoran's seeded 11th for the Aussie Open.
9/01/02 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic kept his cool through three rain breaks to move through to the quarterfinals of the Heineken Open - New Zealand after defeating Russian Mikhail Youzhny 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Three rain breaks - including one after the players had returned briefly to warm up - saw the match take nearly four hours to complete. It began at 2.46 p.m and concluded at 6.37 p.m.
Ivanisevic was happy to get away with the win, and was thankful to complete the match before heavy rain again set in soon after 7.pm."It gets pretty boring the lockerroom," Ivanisevic said post-match.
Ivanisevic was in trouble at 1-2 and 0-30 in the third set. But he then produced his best serving display of the match, firing three aces and denying Youzhny the chance to effect a break of serve. Ivanisevic broke his opponent in the following game as he moved in for the kill.
Ivanisevic admitted that he is still troubled by a nagging left-shoulder injury. "I left it (my serve) in the room today. I knew it was going to happen today ...every time when I serve good one day, the next day is horrible, just surviving. I was good surviving today. I served good when I needed and I won the match.
"It's not a problem for me to serve 30 aces, but the next day it is. That's what I was afraid for today. My arm is sore, my motion is not smooth like yesterday and I start to force too much. But in the end I served well when I needed to.
"When I serve good one day, for sure I'm going to serve bad for at least one part of the match the next day. It cannot be two days in a row. If I have a match and a day off, it's a different story. But lucky this rain helped me: I served better when I needed, so overall it was OK. But most of the time you can't rely on this."
oGoran's gonna play the winner of the match between Rusedski and Tabara.
8/01/02
Goran: "I owe this crowd more."
Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic rode a punishing serve through the first round of the 2002 Heineken Open in Auckland, giving Finn Jarkko Nieminen no chance in a 7-6(5) 6-3 result.
The powerful Croatian served 18 aces and cranked the speed clock up to 200km/h in a match that took little more than an hour. Four of those aces came in the fourth game of the second set - two of them off second serves.
"My serve was going well, better than I expected," Ivanisevic said afterwards. "I didn't serve very well over the last couple of days, but the rhythm was there and it was very smooth. "
Ivanisevic was less impressed with other aspects of his game, but was confident he was on the right track for a good showing through the rest of the week. His only previous appearance in Auckland was as a wildcard two years ago, losing to then-defending champion Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands in the first round.
This time round, he is keen to repay the support he receives from the local Croatian community. "Last time, I leave early and I think I owe this crowd something more."
oGoran will be playing M. Youzhny of Russia tomorrow after 12.30pm in the Center Court.
6/01/02
Goran is playing in the Heineken Open - Auckland, 7-13 Jan. He's playing Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the first round, and is seeded 2nd there.
3/01/02
DOHA (Reuters) - Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic's poor run in Doha continued when the second seed was knocked out of the Qatar Open second round 7-6 6-2 by Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek on Wednesday.
Stepanek did nothing extraordinary in Ivanisevic's downfall, but the volatile Croatian, playing his first tournament since beginning compulsory military service, was at war with himself.
He missed several easy shots, gifting Stepanek the upper hand and eventually the match.
``He played good tennis and I missed too many easy shots,'' said Ivanisevic, a first round loser here a year ago.
``I had my chances to win but I missed them. He held a big lead in the second set and I was always under pressure. The result would have been different had I won the first set. I had a bad day.''
Stepanek said he was surprised by the result.
``I played my natural game. Of course he is a big player and I started a bit nervously. I waited for him to make the mistakes and he sort of obliged,'' the Czech said.
2/01/02
DOHA, Qatar (AP) - Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, on a break from military service, struggled past Austria's Stefan Koubek 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 Tuesday at the $1 million Qatar Open.
Ivanisevic, seeded second, recorded his first victory of the new ATP season. He is in the midst of six months of compulsory military duty in Croatia.
Ivanisevic strained his serving shoulder at the start of the first set and sought medical attention.
``There were too many distractions for me and one of them was my sore shoulder,'' said Ivanisevic, a finalist in this event in 1993. ``Maybe I will have to take painkillers tonight to reduce the pain.
After early careless play, Ivanisevic showed a strong serve in the last set.
``I wouldn't say Stefan played badly, it was just that I played better than him,'' he said. ``If I can play like I did today, then I can win many more matches here.''
1/01/02
Goran's playing Koubek today sometime after 4.30 pm. G'luck!
31/12/01
Goran's playing again!!! He's in the Qatar open 2002 in Doha, starting today and ending on the 6th of January. He's seeded 2nd there and is playing Stefan Koubek of Austria in the first round.
28/12/01
Help vote Goran as the Most Attractive Man of the month by Hello! Magazine. http://www.hellomagazine.com/vote/mostattractiveman/month/
24/12/01
ZAGREB: Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic donated US$250,000 towards cancer research at a hospital in his hometown of Split in southern Croatia, a daily reported on Thursday.
Ivanisevic's mother, Gorana, who is president of a leukaemia and lymphoma foundation, presented the donation to the Split Clinical Hospital on Wednesday, the daily Jutarnji List reported.
The 30-year-old tennis star, who is currently serving six months in the country's militart, was unable to attend the presentation.
Ivanisevic is no stranger to the traumas brought about by cancer. His sister, Srdjana, contracted Hodgkin's disease during her first pregnancy, when the family was strapped for money and Ivanisevic was just a 17-year-old struggling to make it into the senior world of tennis.
Ivanisevic made a name for himself back then by reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in 1989 as a qualifier. The US$30,000 in prize money, he later said, was his most important career earnings as it helped pay for treatment for his sister.