Ivanović started her promising career at the age of 5, after memorising the number of a local tennis clinic from an ad on TV. Ivanović was inspired by the performances of Monica Seles, a fellow Yugoslavian/Serbian at Roland Garros. During her training she encountered the NATO bombings in 1999, where she would have to train in the morning to avoid them. Later on she admitted she would train in an abandoned swimming pool in the winter, as there were no other facilities. Martina Navrátilová revealed, Ana lost her first tournament and spent 4 hours in the locker room crying because she thought her agent was going to drop her because she felt that she wasn't good enough to become a professional tennis player.
Ivanović is good friends with doubles partner Maria Kirilenko, as well as other professional tennis players Daniela Hantuchová, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sanja Ančić and fellow Serbian Novak Đoković.
2004
She first caught the eye of the tennis world when she reached the final of the Junior Wimbledon tournament in 2004, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko. In 2004 she also went 26-0 on the challenger circuit, and won all 4 events that she entered, two of them as a qualifier. Her first professional breakthrough occurred in October of 2004 when she took Venus Williams to two tie breaks before losing 7-6(11), 7-6(6) in the second round of the Zurich Open in Zurich, Switzerland, this was after a tremendous 3 set battle with then-ranked Number 27 Tatiana Golovin. She followed that up with a quarterfinal showing in Luxembourg the following week.
2005
In 2005 Ivanović burst onto the scene by winning her first career singles titles, as a qualifier, in Canberra, Australia. Her ranking continued to rise after impressive wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva, all (at the time) Top 10 players. Later on she scored her biggest win as she knocked out local favorite and 3rd seed Amélie Mauresmo in the 2005 French Open's third round, before her tournament came to an end in the Quarterfinals after an encounter with Russia's Nadia Petrova. Later on in the year, injury sidelined her from moving further up the rankings, but she showed signs of great form in the Zurich Open and Linz, by making the semi-finals in both. Her great year saw her end at Number 16 in the rankings. Ivanović said that she "hope[s] to be in the Top 10 next year."
2006
Ivanović started off 2006 by playing at the Hopman Cup with fellow Serbian Novak Đoković where the pair narrowly missed the final. However, Ivanović had strong performances; both she and Đoković endeared themselves to many Australian fans with charming personalities and entertaining play. To start off her WTA year she played in Sydney where she once again defeated Mauresmo, this time in straight sets, before falling to an in-form Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.
Ana Ivanović at the 2006 U.S. Open .
She continued with some solid results, hammering Patty Schnyder in straight sets at Warsaw. Then her career breakthrough came in August, as she dominated former world number 1, Martina Hingis in the final of the Canada Masters, in which she won 6-2, 6-3. This ultimately led to her winning the United States Open Series ahead of Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova. Many thought she would go on to win the US Open but she lost to a resurgent Serena Williams. After some shock early round losses to Olga Poutchkova in Bali and Venus Williams in Luxembourg Ivanović took a few weeks off to tend to a recurring injury in her right shoulder, which she had sustained at around the same time last year. She made her return in Linz and made it to the quarterfinals, before losing to former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova in two tight sets. To finish off her year she had a disappointing run in Hasselt, Belgium, as she lost to Dutch player Michaëlla Krajicek.
Ivanović also played 9 tournaments in doubles this year, teaming up with Maria Kirilenko and Sania Mirza. Ivanović and Kirilenko made 2 semi-finals and a final; their impressive run saw them end at number 17 in the annual 'Race to the Championships.'
Ivanović finished off 2006 as the 14th best ranked woman in the world. In the doubles, she crept up to finish at number 51 in the world, an improvement of her mediocre Top 200 finish in 2005.
2007
Ivanović's first tournament was at the Mondial Hardcourts, in Gold Coast, falling to Shahar Pe'er 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Her next tournament was the Sydney Medibank International. After demolishing Australian Casey Dellacqua, she downed Nadia Petrova in straight sets, before losing, in the quarterfinals again, to an in-form Nicole Vaidišová 6-4, 6-2.
Ivanović entered the 2007 Australian Open seeded 13th. She defeated American Vania King, losing only two games, and survived a three set scare against Polish player Agnieszka Radwańska, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Ivanović faced No. 22 Vera Zvonareva in the third round, but fell in straight sets 6-1, 6-2. Immediately after the 2007 Australian Open, Ivanović announced via her official website that she has terminated the services of her former coach, David Taylor. She is currently coached by Sven Gröenefeld.
At the 2007 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan, Ivanović made her third final, defeating Shenay Perry in the first round, Mara Santangelo in the second, Jelena Janković in the quarterfinal, and Maria Sharapova (who retired while trailing by a set) in the semifinal. After recovering from a break down in the first set against Hingis, Ivanović lost seven straight games from 3-4 to 6-4, 4-0 before losing 6-4, 6-2. Soon after she left for Antwerp where she made the quarterfinals, eventually losing to finalist Kim Clijsters. Ivanović then packed her bags for America, went where she participated in the Indian Wells tournament. She quickly made the fourth round, dropping only 6 games in her first two matches against Vania King and Alicia Molik, but in the fourth round she was upset by Austrian No. 1 Sybille Bammer.
Her next event was Miami, where she was upset by rising star Yaroslava Shvedova in the second round. The following week was her first tournament on green clay at Amelia Island. After an opening round scare against China's Peng Shuai, where Ivanović was down 1-6, 0-2, 15-40, but won 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, Ana defeated Nathalie Dechy and Jelena Janković, before falling to an inform Tatiana Golovin, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. In her first appearance at the Family Circle Cup, she lost to Vera Zvonareva in the third round.
Ivanović was then off to Barcelona, to prepare herself for the Red Clay swing. Ivanović started off inBerlin for the 2007 Qatar Telecom German Open Championships, where she won her first Tier I clay court title. She was in fantastic form, beating Patty Schnyder and later on World Number 3, Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6 6-4 7-6(4) in the final - during which she badly hurt her ankle, which forced her to withdraw from Rome. The win propelled her in the WTA Rankings to her first top 10 entry at No. 8.
Ana then headed into the 2007 French Open full of confidence and on a 6 match winning streak. She continued this streak to 9, dismissing her first 3 opponents with the loss of only 9 games. Her fourth round encounter with Anabel Medina Garrigues, who was on an 8 match winning streak, proved difficult, but Ana prevailed with an epic 6-3 3-6 6-3 win. Her second quarterfinal at Roland Garros, against Svetlana Kuznetsova, was a topsy turvsy win, with Ana finishing the World Number 3, 6-0 3-6 6-1. Ana headed into her first Grand Slam semi-final as the underdog, against Russian Maria Sharapova, yet after 65 minutes, she had dismissed the World Number 2, in convincing style; 6-2, 6-1. Her opponent for the final would be 3 time winner Justine Henin, who had defeated the likes of Serena Williams and Jelena Janković. Though she started the match well, including breaking Henin in the the first game and going up 40-0, Ivanović succumbed quite tamely. She ended up losing 6-1 6-2 in an error strewn match. Later on, Ivanovic admitted that the idea of being in the final of a Grand Slam overwhelmed her (which led to the reason why her toss of serve was wayward during the match).
After a mediocore performance at the Ordina Open, losing in the quarter finals to Daniela Hantuchová, Ivanović headed into Wimbledon with only two matches on grass for the whole year. After some difficult opening rounds against Melinda Czink, Melien Tu and Aravane Rezaï, Ana was up against World Number 9, Nadia Petrova. Petrova succumbed to Ivanović's pressure in a rain interrupted match 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. Next up for Ivanović, for a place in the semifinals, was young Czech Nicole Vaidišová. The match started well for Vaidišová, winning the opening set 6-4, but Ana came back to claim the second set, 6-2. The third was similar to the first, and Vaidišová even gained three match points at 5-3, but it wasn't to be. Ivanović came back to make her first Wimbledon semifinal 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. For a spot in her second consecutive Grand Slam final, Ivanović was to play Venus Williams, who had been playing in devastating form, demolishing Grand Slam winners Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova. Ivanović started nervously and lost the first set 6-2. Even though Ivanović picked up her game considerably in the second set, the three-time former champion came out on top 6-2, 6-4 to end Ivanović's Wimbledon hopes.
A pestering knee injury, sustained at Wimbledon, required Ana to withdraw from Serbian Fed Cup competition with Slovakia, and two lead up events to the US Open; Stanford and San Diego[1]. Ivanović made her awaited return to the tour in blistering form at the East West Bank Classic in Carson. She swept through the opening three rounds defeating the likes of Ashley Harkleroad, Lucie Šafářová and former doubles partner Maria Kirilenko. In the semi-finals Ana was up against country woman Jelena Janković, for the third time that year. Ivanović looked down and out at 1-4 and saved two match points serving at 4-5, but she managed to rally back to win 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. In the final Ana played an inform Nadia Petrova and won her fourth title of her career, 7-5 6-4, which propelled Ana to a new career high ranking of 4 in the world.
After only a few days rest, Ivanović participated in the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada. The year prior, she brokethrough and won this tournament, however her title defence only lasted 65 minutes, as she was bundled out by Chinese qualifier Yan Zi6-3, 6-1, in what was an error plagued match.
After a great run in the previous two grand slams and a title on the summer hardcourts, Ana was hoping to win the last grand slam of the year, the U.S. Open. Unfortunately, Ana got stuck in the most difficult half of the draw. She is in the top half with three former U.S. Open champions, the world number one Justine Henin, former world number ones Serena Williams, her sister Venus Williams, and fellow Serbian, and semi-finalist of last years Open, Jelena Janković. All five were picks of Patrick McEnroe's six players who have the best chance to win the Open this year.[2]
Personal life
Ana's parents support her career. Ana's mother, Dragana, a lawyer, attends her daughter's matches all season along with Ana's father, Miroslav, who is a self-employed businessman. Ana has a younger brother Miloš, with whom she loves to play basketball.[3] Other hobbies include shopping, watching movies and playing Su Do Ku. Ivanović's uncle is a former footballer and now a coach. Her inspiration to begin playing was Monica Seles but she also admires the demeanour of Roger Federer.
She also revealed that she didn't receive any Valentine's cards, even though she has been called the prettiest female player to ever grace the Wimbledon courts since Maria Sharapova by the British tabloids. She joked that guys must be too shy.[4]
Ana was chosen as the most beautiful female sportist in 2007.
Prijem 
