Croatia There is a special kind of tennis story about the player who is brilliant enough to reach the biggest finals but never quite able to win one. For most of the 1990s, Goran Ivanišević was that story. Then, in July 2001, ranked 125th in the world and playing on a wildcard, he rewrote it in the most unlikely way anyone could imagine.
Ivanišević was born on 13 September 1971 in Split, then part of Yugoslavia and now Croatia. He grew up by the Adriatic and developed a left-handed serve that became, for a decade, one of the most feared weapons in men's tennis. At 1.93 m tall he had the leverage for huge pace and wicked angles. He could make Wimbledon look effortless. He could also make it look like torture, often in the same match.
Playing Style
Ivanišević was a serve-and-volley player built around one shot. His lefty serve swung wide on the advantage court and pulled opponents off the court, and his flat first serve down the middle was close to unreturnable on fast grass. In 1996 he hit 1,477 aces over the season, still regarded as the record for a single year on the ATP Tour, and he finished his career with more than 10,000.
The rest of his game was more volatile. His groundstrokes could be spectacular or erratic, and his temperament was famous. He smashed rackets, argued with himself and once had to default a match because he had broken all his rackets. He later joked about having several personalities, "good Goran" and "bad Goran", competing inside him. Fans loved him for it, because you never knew which one would show up.
Three Finals, Three Near-Misses
Before 2001 Ivanišević had reached three Wimbledon finals and lost them all:
- 1992: lost to Andre Agassi in five sets, a final in which his serve kept him in touch but his returns could not break Agassi often enough
- 1994: lost to Pete Sampras in straight sets
- 1998: lost to Sampras again, in five sets, after winning the opening set
His career still had real peaks. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 2 on 4 July 1994, won 22 ATP singles titles, and at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics he won two bronze medals, in singles and doubles, for newly independent Croatia. But the Wimbledon title seemed to have gone. A long-running shoulder injury left him struggling by 2000, and his ranking slid out of the top 100.
The 2001 Wildcard
By the summer of 2001 Ivanišević was 29, ranked 125th, and needed a wildcard just to get into the Wimbledon draw. Most people thought it was a farewell appearance. Wildcards are usually handed to promising juniors, local players or former champions coming back from injury, and the All England Club gave Ivanišević one largely out of respect for his three previous finals. Nobody expected it to be anything more than a nice gesture, least of all the bookmakers.
Instead, he played the tournament of his life. Along the way he beat Fredrik Jonsson, Carlos Moyá, Andy Roddick, Greg Rusedski and Marat Safin. In the semi-finals he met the home favourite, Tim Henman, in a match that stretched over three days because of rain. Henman had been in control before the weather intervened; Ivanišević regrouped and won in five sets.
The final against Pat Rafter was played on a Monday because of rain, in front of a crowd with many tickets sold on the day, which gave Centre Court an atmosphere more like a football match. Ivanišević won 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 9–7, after a nerve-shredding final game in which he needed several championship points to get over the line. He remains the only man to win the Wimbledon singles title as a wildcard.
The celebrations back in Split, where huge crowds gathered to welcome him home, are part of Croatian sporting folklore. He had won Wimbledon after everyone had written him off, and the story travelled far beyond tennis: British viewers voted him BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year for 2001.
After Playing
Shoulder problems ended his playing career not long after. He played his last Wimbledon in 2004 and was with the Croatian squad, in a non-playing role, when the country won its first Davis Cup in 2005. In 2020 he was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
His second career as a coach has been almost as successful as his first:
- Marin Čilić (2013–2016): guided him to the 2014 US Open title, the first Grand Slam won by a Croatian man since his own Wimbledon
- Tomáš Berdych and Milos Raonic: later coaching stints with two top-10 players
- Novak Djokovic (to March 2024): part of Djokovic's team through nine of his Grand Slam titles, one of the most successful coach–player partnerships of the era
- Elena Rybakina and Stefanos Tsitsipas: two shorter partnerships, both of which had ended by the second half of 2025
- Arthur Fils (from February 2026): Ivanišević joined the young Frenchman's team at the Qatar Open. The season that followed was the best of Fils's career so far: he won the Barcelona Open in April, came back from a hip stress fracture, and in August won his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati, rising to a career-high No. 11 in the world.
Legacy
Ivanišević's career statistics are impressive on their own: 22 titles, No. 2 in the world, four Wimbledon finals, two Olympic medals, a mountain of aces and nearly $20 million in prize money. But what people remember is the emotion. He is proof that the biggest prize can come after the setbacks, and that tennis has room for colourful characters. As a coach he has shown a different side: calm, funny and very good at helping players believe in their best shots.
If you want to understand how a player ranked 125th could win Wimbledon, our guide to how tennis seeding works explains why unseeded players and wildcards can end up anywhere in the draw.
Quick Facts
- Full name: Goran Ivanišević
- Country: Croatia
- Born: 13 September 1971, Split
- Height: 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
- Plays: Left-handed, two-handed backhand
- Singles titles: 22
- Grand Slam titles: 1 (Wimbledon 2001, as a wildcard)
- Grand Slam finals: 4 (all at Wimbledon)
- Highest ranking: No. 2 (4 July 1994)
- Olympic medals: two bronzes, Barcelona 1992 (singles and doubles)
- Career prize money: $19,878,007
- Hall of Fame: inducted 2020
- Now: coach, working with Arthur Fils in 2026
Last updated: September 2026