Ana Ivanovic Learning Patience as She Fights to Rebuild Tennis Career

The last year of Ana Ivanovic’s career has hardly coincided with the Hollywood script that her life appeared to be headed for after she won the 2008 French Open.

In the space of two glorious weeks in Paris, the stunning Serbian star achieved it all. She clasped her first Grand Slam trophy in her arms and two days later saw her name atop the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings. Life was good and the future appeared to be even better.

But it all came crashing down in one of the biggest cautionary tales of the past decade in tennis. Like many young athletes who rapidly ascend to the tops of their sports discover, it is far easier to be the hunter, not the hunted. For Ivanovic, who has been accused of being “too nice” of a player, the feeling of living up to the expectations of millions of fans and having a perpetual target on her back was simply too much.

And it only grew worse in 2009.

By the time she arrived for her title defense at Roland Garros, Ivanovic had slipped to No. 8 in the rankings. She managed to reach the fourth round before she crashed out to Victoria Azarenka, then ranked just beneath her at No. 9, in straight sets after winning just five games. She once again lost in the round of sixteen at the next major, but this time she left Wimbledon in tears after retiring against Venus Williams because of a thigh injury.

As the US Open approached, no one was able to deny the plain, ugly truth—Ivanovic was trapped in a devastating slump. Once she returned from her injury, she failed to string more than two wins together in succession. Her stay in Flushing Meadows was short-lived as she was dispatched in the opening round by Kateryna Bondarenko, who was not even ranked inside the Top 50.

Ivanovic called the skids on her season early in October, summing up her year as a “continuation of going from one disappointment to another.” The woman who had it all suddenly found herself on the outside of the Top 10 looking in, and wondering where it all had gone wrong.

But fortunately for Ivanovic, there is always another day in professional tennis, another tournament to compete in, and another trophy to hoist. She took advantage of her extended off-season vacation to rest, recover and rediscover her passion for the game.

The new 2010 tennis season dawned for Ivanovic in Brisbane, Australia and for the first time since Wimbledon, she won three consecutive matches. Brimming with new confidence, Ivanovic headed to Melbourne for a first-round encounter with American Shenay Perry, another player who knows a thing or two about the struggle of living up to expectations.

It was not her most dazzling victory, but given what Ivanovic has been through in the last eighteen months, it was a momentous win as she dispatched Perry in two sets 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday.

Afterward, Ivanovic acknowledged that she was thrilled with her performance.

“I was pleased with the way I played,” Ivanovic said. “The conditions were very tough. It was very cold and windy and a lot different than Brisbane or what I have been used to.”

“But I just tried to work my way through, just taking time, trying to stay composed. I thought I played well and served good. I’m very happy to have the victory, because she had a lot of matches already.”

Ivanovic, who has often been hesitant to discuss her love life, has partially credited her newfound patience to her boyfriend Australian golfer Adam Scott. “The biggest thing, professionally, he has taught me is patience,” Ivanovic told the Herald Sun earlier this month.

Ivanovic is still six long matches away from another major title, but if she can learn the lesson that Scott has been teaching her, she will be content to have patience.

After all, good things, even Grand Slam titles, come to those who wait.