Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Croatian athlete Goran Ivanisevic.
Last updated on December 22, 2024.
Goran Ivanišević is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He is the only player to win a Wimbledon singles title as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001 while ranked world No. 125, after being runner-up at Wimbledon in 1992, 1994 and 1998. Ivanišević's career-high singles ranking was world No. 2, achieved in July 1994. He coached Marin Čilić from September 2013 to July 2016, leading Čilić to his only major title to date at the 2014 US Open. He has been coaching Novak Djokovic since 2019. Ivanišević was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2020.
You can't slow the game here. It's grass, it's always going to be fast.
I think I owe it to myself and my fans in Britain to play one more Wimbledon.
The best book I read this year was 'The Da Vinci Code.'
If you are given a lot of money without having to work for it, you won't appreciate it as much as if you made it yourself.
As soon as I step on the court I just try to play tennis and don't find excuses. You know, I just lost because I lost, not because my arm was sore.
Since retiring I have spent a lot of time with my family, on my boat, and playing football.
It's easier when you play. You get your emotion out. You scream. You yell. You do whatever you want. You play. But it's tough to sit.
There are not many Irish people playing tennis!
I must be the only player in the world who ever injured himself for a tournament by stepping on a shell on the beach. I don't know what I'm going to do.
Although we didn't have much when I was growing up in Split, Croatia, my parents always tried to ensure that my sister and I had the things we needed, and it was enough for us.
Winning Wimbledon was a great feeling and it is still a great feeling. It has given me so much confidence.
At her birthday, my seven-year-old daughter will say that she wants these big cakes and certain expensive toys as presents, and I can't say no to her. It would just break my heart. But when I was little, for birthdays we just played outside and we were happy if we got any cake.
It's fun to be there with the guys, to practice with them, arrange the balls, do this, do that, but when you play you can get some of this nervousness out of your system.
While I didn't have everything that I wanted, I was still a happy kid.
My sporting hero was Drazen Petrovic, the NBA basketball player, who was killed in a car accident in 1993. He was a good friend, an unbelievable player, and I dedicated my Wimbledon win to him.
My tattoo is a cross, a rose and a shark. A cross is a cross, a rose like love and a shark is a pretty tough animal.
I still break racquets, but now I do it in a positive way.
Its fun to be there with the guys, to practice with them, arrange the balls, do this, do that, but when you play you can get some of this nervousness out of your system.
When you are winning too much, sometimes you think you should never lose again. I am learning to lose.
I don't care now if I ever win a match in my life again. Whatever I do in my life, wherever I go, I'm going to be always Wimbledon champion.
Actually, I tossed it nicely, landed nicely, like airplane. No warning, beautiful. That's the art of throwing racquets.
The trouble with me is that every match I play against five opponents: umpire, crowd, ball boys, court, and myself.
If I can't serve on grass, I can maybe help cut the grass, paint the lines and serve some strawberries.
Every generation has its own Goran. So I was the Goran of this generation.
With me, you never know what is going to happen
Ivan Lendl's never going to be a great player on grass. The only time he comes to the net is to shake your hand.
After I won a match at a tournament I tried to repeat everything I did the day I won. Before my next match, I ate the same food, I went to the same restaurant etc. Sometimes it got very boring.
When I won Wimbledon, I said to God: just let me win this one tournament and I won't play another match. Maybe God's telling me to go home, but I don't want to go home. We are negotiating at the moment.
Lately, my mind is like an orchestra. If you don't have the conductor, you don't know what to do. One guy is playing jazz, one guy is playing rock and roll, another classical. It's a big mess.
My fines? I pay more fines than some guys' career prize money on the tour.
When I started in my career, my sister was very sick so I play for her because we didn't have money.
I just try to play tennis and don't find excuses. You know, I just lost because I lost, not because my arm was sore.
It's great, but there is one problem. She doesn't sleep. At night she seems to turn into a vampire. She wakes up every night five or 10 times, asking for things, singing, calling out.
I have so many runner-up cups that I am thinking of starting my own tea shop.