Ivanovic Expects to Move Up in the Rankings

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 5th January 2011

Ivanovic Expects to Move Up in the Rankings

Ana Ivanovic (SRB) |

Ana Ivanovic is not alone in her conviction that 2011 will see her return to the pinnacle of women’s tennis after a less than successful couple of years. Maria Sharapova and Dinara Safina are two notables who are hoping for much the same resurgence in their careers.

But the 23 year-old Serb who topped the world rankings for 12 weeks in two spells during 2008 but slipped as low as 63 last year she is still capable of adding to the French Open title she won two and a half years ago and maintains her struggles have been a valuable learning process.

“It was very tough and I did struggle a lot through the last couple of years, but I wouldn’t change the pain for what I learned, and I think it’s important sometimes to get through tough times,” said Ivanovic who served notice of what she hopes to come in 2011 by winning the curtain closing Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali last November. ”It makes you appreciate certain things a little more and, for me, I learnt a lot about myself.

“It made me become a lot more patient, because in the past when I was a kid and I was coming up, every time I would put in good work, I would straight away get results, and even if I had a bad week, I knew next week was coming good. And all of a sudden that was not the case, and there was lots more pressure and lots more outside things affecting me, from a media side and so on. I was taking things for granted a little bit.”

Ivanovic is nearly 14 pounds lighter than she was a year ago but she’s currently happy with her physical conditioning. “I got to the stage where I was a little bit over-trained and that caused a few injuries and then you lose matches and your confidence goes,” she said.

“It’s like a circle and I’m really happy I managed to kind of break that a little bit, and get my confidence back, and I did put a lot of effort and a lot of hard work in the past few months. It’s good to see results, finally.”

After spending much of 2010 working with Steffi Graf’s former coach Heinz Gunthardt, the Portuguese Antonio van Grichen, who guided Victoria Azarenka to the world’s top ten, has now been handed the coaching duties.

Ivanovic concedes it is still early days in their relationship but she said: “I’m really happy so far, we really work good together, he’s very young, he’s motivating, and he’s full of energy himself.

“Antonio’s intense on the court, which is good, it’s something that I feel I need to get that footwork happening and work on my game, and we still work a lot on my serve.”

Topics: Ana Ivanovic, Bali, Commonwealth Bank, Confidence, Conviction, Curtain, Dinara Safina, French Open, French Open Title, Last November, Little Bit, Maria Sharapova, Notables, Pinnacle, Resurgence, Serb, Spells, Tough Times, Tournament Of Champions, Two And A Half Years