A Swimming Pool, Bombings, and the French Open Final

Ana Ivanovic understands the importance of hard work, diligence, and dedication to tennis, because not so long ago, the nineteen year-old Serbian was practicing her tennis in of all places, an in-ground swimming pool.

Wheaties may be the preferred breakfast of champions, but playing tennis in a swimming pool is not the norm for Grand Slam finalists.

For Ana Ivanovic, her early life was far from the norm, especially growing up in the embattled former nation of Yugoslavia.

The political unrest came to a boiling point in 1999, when at the age of only eleven years old, Ana Ivanovic and her parents had to fear for her safety, while trying to ensure that she was still able to compete at the sport she loved.

Practice schedules were not only made around available court times, but the frequencies of bombings. Most players only have to contend with finding a court available; Ivanovic had to worry about making sure that she was not the one literally hit off the court.

“I do remember in 1999 it was very hard, because we couldn’t leave the country and that was the time where I could have a chance to compete in the international level at 14,” recounted Ivanovic after she won her first Tier I title in Montreal last season. “But just the first few months was difficult, but then later we were practicing in the morning before it was dangerous.”

It was so dangerous that Ana and her friends made sure they only practiced after the all-clear siren was sounded.

“[The bombing] would probably start in the afternoon, around noon and the day and the night,” added Ivanovic. “At about 6 o’clock in the morning it was finished, the siren would go on and then we would practice from 7:00.”

Now on the eve of her greatest Grand Slam victory over Maria Sharapova for a spot in Saturday’s final, Ivanovic took a moment to reminisce about how far she has come since those eventful days only eight years ago.

“It was tough times, especially 1999 during the bombing,” said Ivanovic. “It was really tough. I thought it would be impossible to continue, because we didn’t know how long it was going to go on.”

Although the bombings eventually stopped, Ivanovic’s problems did not.

“After that, we had troubles to travel, because we had problems to get visa to another country,” added Ivanovic. “And we didn’t have flights from Serbia. We had to go from Hungary, so we’d take a bus for six, seven hours just to catch a flight.”

Visa and travel difficulties were not the only problems facing the Ivanovic family as Ana’s tennis progressed; more importantly, she needed a place to practice.

Tennis courts were scarce in impoverished Belgrade, especially in the winter time, but thanks to some local ingenuity, Ana found herself playing on the most unlikeliest of surfaces, the bottom of a swimming pool.

No wonder she’s comfortable playing on clay, hard courts, or grass - all of them are a vast improvement on what she grew up playing on in Belgrade.

They had a handful of clay courts for use in fair weather, but once the snowy conditions hit in the winter, tennis players were forced to find another place to practice.

“I grew up playing in a swimming pool,” revealed Ivanovic today. “It’s a club where they had an Olympic swimming pool, and then it was very expensive to keep it warm during the winter, and there was not many people using it. So they emptied the swimming pool, and they put carpet inside.”

Fortunately, because the pool was Olympic sized, they had room for two makeshift courts. That took care of having a suitable location and surface, but it still had a not-so minor problem.

“It was impossible to play crosscourt, because it was this far from the wall,” conceded Ivanovic. “So we had to keep playing down the lines. And that was the courts we had during the winter.”

Every dark cloud has a silver lining and the hours Ivanovic spent nailing forehands down the lines helped her develop into the top 10 player and Grand Slam finalist that she is today. Her forehand is now her best shot, something that Maria Sharapova got more than a taste of today during her 6-2, 6-2 drubbing.

Ivanovic has come a long way since those days hitting in a Belgrade swimming pool or dodging bombings, but no matter what happens tomorrow, Ivanovic will keep persevering because tennis is more than a job, it is something she loves.

“But it’s very hard to imagine [how life would have been different], because tennis, it’s my life, and that’s what I’ve been doing for so long, and I love doing it.”

If you enjoyed this tennis article, please sign up for a free subscription!