Goran Ivanisevic stands another chance to make it into the finals of Wimbledon, 20 years after he won the 2001 event ‘as a wildcard’
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Goran Ivanisevic and Novak Djokovic
Goran Ivanisevic created history on the 9th of July 2001 when he became the first and so far the only Wildcard entrant to win the Wimbledon title. Ivanisevic had previously reached the finals of the Wimbledon Championships on three occasions in 1992, 1994 and 1998 but lost to Andre Agassi in 1992 and then to Pete Sampras in the 1994 and 1998 finals.
He had entered the 2001 Wimbledon ranked 125 in the world and with the title jumped 109 places to become the World No. 16. Since his ranking did not guarantee him the automatic qualification into the main-draw, he was handed one of the 8 wildcards given his past record of 3 runner-up finishes.
He defeated Fredrik Jonsson, Carlos Moya, Andy Roddick and Gregory Rusedski to reach the quarter-finals of the Championships. He was up against Marat Safin in the quarter-finals and went on to beat him in 4-sets to make set-up a semi-final clash with local lad Tim Henman. In a rain-affected semifinal, Ivanisevic won the match in 5-sets to enter his 4th final at the All-England Club.
He was set to clash with the last year’s runner-up and 2-time US Open winner Patrick Rafter. It was Goran’s first singles final since 1998. In a match lasting just over three hours, Ivanisevic won the finals defeating Rafter 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 9–7 becoming the lowest-ranked player to win Wimbledon and the only wildcard entrant to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Goran Ivanisevic helps Novak Djokovic win his 20th major, wins 5th slam as a coach
The 2001 Wimbledon remained the last Singles title that the Croatian won before calling it a day on his 16-year long career. He continued on the Senior circuit for a while and occasionally played in the tournaments. He turned to coaching in 2013 joining Marin Cilic‘s team and stayed with Cilic till the 2016 Wimbledon helping him to his only Grand Slam, the 2014 US Open.
He coached Tomas Berdych and later coached Milos Raonic for a brief spell. He joined the current World No.1 Novak Djokovic in October 2019, helping the Serbian to 4 more Grand Slams. Djokovic won his 20th grand slam by beating Matteo Berrettini in the 2021 Wimbledon final.
Irrespective of Djokovic’s successes, Goran Ivanisevic will always be part of the Wimbledon folklore.
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Sarthak Shitole
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