Ivanišević was born in Split, Croatia (then Yugoslavia). He turned professional in
1988, and won his first career doubles title later that year in
Frankfurt (with Rüdiger Haas).
Ivanišević made his first significant impact on the tennis world in
1990. In the
French Open, he knocked-out
Boris Becker in the first round of the men's singles and went on to reach the quarter-finals. Becker reportedly remarked about Ivanišević that "even God could not have played any better". He was also runner-up in the French Open men's doubles (with
Petr Korda). A few weeks later at Wimbledon, Ivanišević made it all the way to the semi-finals, where he again met Becker and put up an impressive display before going down in four sets. Becker predicted after the match Ivanišević would be a future Wimbledon champion. Ivanišević also won his tour first singles title in 1990 at
Stuttgart, and helped
Yugoslavia win the
World Team Cup.
Ivanišević quickly became known on the tour for his strong, attacking style of play and for an extremely powerful
serve. For several years, he was the leading scorer of
aces on the tour. A brilliant player, who was capable of beating anyone in the world when he was at his very best, he was also known for occasional on-court temper tantrums and, from time-to-time, for "tanking" in matches (particularly in final sets) and being blown away by opponents he was capable of beating.
Ivanišević lost in the second round at Wimbledon in
1991 and courted controversy during the championships by not only expressing his strong Croatian patriotic sentiments during the period of independence from Yugoslavia, but also urging the top women's player
Monica Seles (a
Serbia-born ethnic Hungarian) to publicly express her stance, which she refused to do.
In 1992 Ivanišević reached the Wimbledon singles final, where he faced
Andre Agassi. Both up-and-coming stars were gunning for their first
Grand Slam title. In a dramatic five-set encounter, it was Agassi who eventually won 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Later that summer, at the
Olympic Games in
Barcelona, Ivanišević won Bronze Medals in both singles and doubles for the newly-independent nation of Croatia. He also won four singles titles that year.
Ivanišević reached the Wimbledon final for the second time in 1994, where he was defeated by defending-champion
Pete Sampras in three sets, 7-6, 7-6, 6-0. Ivanišević reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 2 in July that year.
In
1995, Ivanišević won the
Grand Slam Cup, beating
Todd Martin in the final 7-6, 6-3, 6-4. Continuing his strong performances at the Wimbledon tournament, he would reach the semifinals that year, losing to Pete Sampras in a hard fought five set match, 7-6 4-6 6-3 4-6 6-3.
In
1996 he won a career-best five singles titles. He reached the Grand Slam Cup final again, but this time lost to Becker in straight sets. He set a tour record by serving 1,477 aces over the course of the season. Ivanišević also teamed-up with
Iva Majoli to win the 1996
Hopman Cup for Croatia. Ivanišević would also reach his first Grand Slam semifinal other than Wimbledon at the U.S. Open that year, falling once again to Pete Sampras in four sets.
In 1998, Ivanišević reached his third Wimbledon final. He faced Sampras again and pushed him to five sets before losing a closely-fought contest 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. After three final defeats, many people wondered if the man often touted as a future Wimbledon winner would ever fulfill his promise.
Ivanišević finished runner-up in the French Open men's doubles in
1999 (with
Jeff Tarango). However for much of 1999,
2000 and
2001, he struggled with a shoulder injury and his performance and world ranking began to steadily slide. He was widely acclaimed as the best player never to win a Grand Slam.
But then came the summer of 2001. Ivanišević was ranked the World No. 125. This was not good enough to earn him an automatic place in the main draw at Wimbledon but, given his past record as a three-time finalist, the organizers decided to give him a wildcard entry. Against all expectations, he powered his way through the draw to reach the final, setting-up a showdown with the previous year's runner-up and former
US Open champion
Patrick Rafter. (It was the first singles final which Ivanišević had qualified for since 1998.) In an epic struggle lasting three hours and one minute, Ivanišević out-lasted Rafter to win in five sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7. Just two months shy of his 30th birthday, Ivanišević became the lowest-ranked player and the first wildcard entry to win Wimbledon. His Wimbledon success was rated sixteenth at the list of
100 Greatest Sporting Moments.
Ivanišević received the
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2001.
The 2001 Wimbledon win proved to be the last of Ivanišević's career. He temporarily retired later in 2001 due to shoulder surgery, but remained listed at the bottom of the
ATP's rankings. He returned to tennis in
2004, but retired permanently after a third-round loss to
Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon. After the match, he again prominently displayed his Croatian heritage, this time by putting on a
Croatia national football team jersey.
Over the course of his career Ivanišević won 22 top-level singles titles and 9 doubles titles.
In
2005 Ivanišević was a member of the Croatian team for the
Davis Cup final against
Slovakia in
Bratislava, though he did not play in any of the match-ups. Croatia won the final 3-2.
In June 2006 he performed in the Calderstones Park tournament in Liverpool.
In November 2006 Ivanišević made history again by winning the Frankfurt title, part of the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions, defeating a fit John McEnroe in 2 tight sets 7-6(12), 7-6(1). After the match, Ivanišević said “It’s always great to play John. He was my idol, and it is special to beat him.”
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