'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
In the last decade and a half, Croatia has made leaps and bounds in tennis with many promising players mushrooming from the south-eastern European nation.
The turning point, according to many, was the Davis Cup triumph in 2005. The Croats lead by the terrific duo of Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic capped off a remarkable win against Slovakia away from home.
With young talents like Borna Coric making giant strides by lodging victories against the best of the best players like Roger Federer, one can expect good days for Croatia in the years to come.
Croatia has two players in the top-15 of the ATP rankings - Marin Cilic and next-gen star Borna Coric. Although not quite at the ATP level, they have 2 players ranked inside the top 35 in Petra Martic and Donna Vekic on the WTA circuit.
We take a look at 8 of the best Croatian tennis players of all-time:
#7 Mirjana Lučić-Baroni
Mirjana Lučić-Baroni enjoyed considerable success in the mid-1990s as she broke several of the 'youngest ever' records. At the 1998 Australian Open, Lucic-Baroni won the Doubles title aged just 15 along with her partner, Martina Hingis. She remains the youngest ever winner of the Doubles Grand Slam title of all-time. In 1997, she won the Croatian Bol Ladies Open - in what was her debut WTA tournament. The following year, she successfully retained her title making her the youngest player to win back-to-back titles at the same venue. Aged just 16, she made the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Championships in 1999 beating Monica Seles on the way.
It was around this time that her off-court struggles started to disrupt her career. According to Lucic-Baroni's own account, her abusive father made life a living hell. This, coupled with financial problems, affected her game and she did not play regularly on the WTA Tour for the next 6 or 7 years, competing only in far and few tournaments in between.
At the 2014 US Open, Lucic-Baroni defeated Garbine Muguruza and Simona Halep along the way to make the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in 16 years. Shortly after, she made history as the player with the longest gap between WTA titles when she beat Venus Williams in the final of the Quebec Open in Canada
At the age of 35, Lucic-Baroni made the semi-finals of the 2017 Australian Open beating 3rd seed Agnieszka Radwanska and top-seed Karolina Pliskova along the way. She reached a career-high ranking of world number 27 that year.
#6 Mario Ancic
Former Croatian tennis star Mario Ancic achieved a career-high ranking of world number 7 in 2006. He made the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2006 and his best Grand Slam performance was a semi-final appearance at the All England Club in 2004 where he was beaten in 4 sets by American Andy Roddick.
Ancic won the bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games along with partner Ivan Ljubicic. The following year, he helped Croatia win their first ever Davis Cup beating Slovakia in the final. Mononucleosis and minor injuries forced him to miss many major events, and his ranking dropped from No. 9 in January 2007 to No. 135 in January 2008.
A law graduate from Harvard University and Columbia University, Ancic is now employed by Credit Suisse as an investment banker in New York. He coached Novak Djokovic for a brief period in 2017.
#5 Borna Coric
22-year old Borna Coric has already beaten 'GOAT' Roger Federer twice this year, most notably at the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters.
The promising Croat received the ATP Star of Tomorrow Award in 2014 and started to rise up the ATP rankings rapidly. In October of that year, he defeated Rafael Nadal at the Swiss Indoors lodging the biggest win of his career at that point. He is the only man to have defeated Rafael Nadal twice as a teenager. At the 2017 Madrid Open, he beat then World Number 1 Andy Murray, making it the first time that he had beaten the top-ranked ATP player.
2018 was Coric's breakthrough year. He made the semis of the Indian Wells ATP 1000 tournament where he lost to Federer despite leading by a set and a break. At the Halle Open, he beat Alexander Zverev and Federer to win his first grass court title. He helped Croatia beat France in the Davis Cup final beating Jeremy Chardy in the singles rubber.
#4 Iva Majoli
The first ever Croatian athlete to win a Grand Slam singles title - male or female was Iva Majoli. Having reached a career-high ranking of world number 4 in the WTA rankings - the highest that a Croatian player has ever reached, she won the 1997 French Open denying Martina Hingis a calendar Slam that year. The same year, she made the quarterfinals at the All England Club losing in straight sets to young sensation Anna Kournikova.
In her career spanning 13 years, she won 7 WTA singles titles. A series of shoulder injuries affected her form and her ranking plummeted. She was finally forced to retire in the summer of 2004. She was later made the non-playing captain of the Croatian National Fed Cup Tennis Team in 2012. In 2015, she made a one-off comeback after 11 years, competing at the Kremlin Cup.
#3 Ivan Ljubicic
In a 14 year long career lasting from 1998 to 2012, Ivan Ljubicic reached a career-high ranking of world number 3 in 2006. That year, he made the semi-finals of the French Open - his best ever Grand Slam performance. However, he lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets.
His crowning achievement came at the 2005 Davis Cup, where he spectacularly lead his side in both the singles and doubles matches to earn Croatia their first ever Davis Cup triumph over Slovakia away from home. Prior to that, he won the Bronze medal with compatriot Mario Ancic at the Athens Summer Olympics Games of 2004. At the ATP level, his biggest win came at the ATP Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells in 2010.
Post his retirement, Ljubicic has established a successful coaching career mentoring the likes of Milos Raonic and Roger Federer. At present, he is serving as the coach of Roger Federer and has helped Federer win 3 Grand Slam titles till date.
#2 Goran Ivanisevic
Goran Ivanisevic remains the only wildcard in history to have won the prestigious Wimbledon Championships. He achieved this in his fourth final at the All England Club. Prior to his win, he had lost twice to Andre Agassi and once to Pete Sampras in the final of one of the most popular Grand Slams. It was pure emotions for the Croat in the drama-filled final of 2001, where he remarkably beat Pat Rafter in five sets. The match is considered by many as one of the greatest ever Grand Slam finals of all-time with Ivanisevic winning 9-7 in the final set. Ivanisevic reached a career-high ATP ranking of world number 2 in 1994.
A gifted serve and volley player, his best results understandably came at the hallowed lawns of Wimbledon. At the ATP Masters level, he won the now-defunct Stockholm Masters and the Paris Masters events. Ivanisevic retired in 2004 with earnings of just under 20 million USD.
#1 Marin Cilic
The most popular Croatian player in tennis right now is undoubtedly Marin Cilic. The big-serving Cilic has been a top-ranked player on the ATP World Tour for around 8 years now. He rose to prominence in 2009 beating Andy Murray in the 4th round at the US Open. The following year, he made the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
His biggest achievement till date came at the 2014 US Open where he beat Kei Nishikori in the final to win his first Grand Slam tournament. His only ATP Masters 1000 triumph came at Cincinnati in 2016.
A resident of Monaco, Cilic achieved a career-high ranking of world number 3 after reaching the Australian Open final earlier this year. He would eventually lose to Roger Federer for the second straight time in Grand Slam finals after having lost to the Swiss player in the Wimbledon final of 2017.
After having helped Croatia win their second Davis Cup title in 2018, Cilic will look to start off the 2019 tennis season on a high note.
