Jul 11, 2001 09:36 AM
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At long last Goran Ivanisevic has won a major championship and ironically his first grand slam triumph was when his fortunes on the ATP tour had arguably never been so low.
Goran was born in Split,Croatia on the 13 th September,1971 and after great success as a youngster,turned pro in 1988. The 1.94 metre,,lanky,wiry, lad from Croatia was soon making a name for himself and won tournaments in places such as Stuttgart,Manchester and Stockholm and gained international fame with appearances in finals at Wimbledon in 1992,1994 and 1998,where unfortunately he came up against Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras,and lost all three finals.
Everyone knows this engaging,thoroughly likeable,left hander has a really powerful serve and is a superb grass court player.Besides his powerful service,he is a very good volleyer. Still following injury problems,especially with his shoulder, he started slipping from fame,his ranking as high as No 2 in 1997,still a good 12 in 1998,had fallen to 125 by the time the 2001 Wimbledon Championships came around. He has always loved Wimbledon and I think the feeling is mutual- Wimbledon has always taken Goran to their hearts to. Anyway this great player,starting to slip into oblivion,was given a wild card.
Still few people expected the very likeable Goran to get very far The odds against him winning were something like 80 to 1,among the bookmakers.
Well with hindsight we should not have been tempted to write Goran off so lightly.He soon started to ''demolish'' his opponents and had a very convincing win over Gregg Rudeski in the last 16. It was then that I-glued to my TV set night after night-started to think that Goran could win the tournament.
He displayed great moral strength in his epic and hard fought victories over Tim Henman and Pat Rafter,and much as a Brit, I was rooting for Tim,I couldn't in my heart of hearts begrudge Goran his great triumph. Finally- a grand slam title to his name and, to boot,the first wild card entry ever to win Wimbledon.
Goran,is not only a great tennis player but a very likeable character as well. Over the years he has worn long hair,short hair, a beard, a goatee,been with a beard, then without a beard,had a pony tail, worn a bandana and then a cap.He has always displayed great passion, a fine sense of humour and appears to me to be a very compassionate but fun loving man.Well done Goran - a big and well deserved triumph for a big man !
