As he announced a few weeks ago, Croatian tennis player Ivan Ljubicic (photo ©Orlovic) retired from his professional activity after his defeat in the first round of the ATP tournament in Monte Carlo.

Ivan Ljubicic was born on March 19, 1979 in Banja Luka, which is now in Bosnia-Herzegovina, however he acquired Croatian citizenship.

Because of the civil war in Yugoslavia, Ivan Ljubicic was forced to move to Italy in 1993 and in 1997 he started being coached by Riccardo Piatti, who followed him for the rest of his career.

Turned pro in 1998, Ivan Ljubicic won his first ATP tournament in Lyon in 2001. However, Liubo – that’s his nickname – reached very high levels of play in 2004 and at the Olympic Games in Athens he won the bronze medal in the double tournament with Mario Ancic.

In 2005, Ivan Ljubicic won the tournament in Metz and Vienna, and reached the final in six tournaments in the Top 10 in the ATP rankings. With Croatia won the Davis Cup by defeating the USA, Romania, Russia and Slovakia lost only one singles match and winning all the doubles, again with Mario Ancic.

In 2006, Ivan Ljubicic won the ATP tournaments in Chennai, Zagreb and Vienna and reached at Roland Garros his only Grand Slam tournament semifinal.

In 2007, Ivan Ljubicic won the ATP tournaments in Doha and ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

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In 2009, Ivan Ljubicic won the tournament in Lyon.

In 2010, Ivan Ljubicic won his last but most important tournament, Indian Wells.

A player with a very powerful service also thanks to its 193 cm (6’4″) in height, he was often among the first in the aces ranking. His game was also based on penetrating basic strokes. His backhand is one-handed, a rarity these days.

In 2004, Ivan Ljubicic got married to Aida, in 2008 their son Leonardo was born and last November their daughter Zara was born. From now on, he’ll have much more time to devote to them!