Ana Ivanovic is one the most intriguing figures on the WTA circuit. She has her bread and butter shots which are her serve followed up by her forehand, but she tends to hit her serve while the toss is wayward. Also, she has had her extremely highs and extremely lows. 2008 was when she won her lone Grand Slam at the French Open, was runner-up at the Australian Open, and made an appearance at WTA Year-End Championships. After that however, she struggled to cope with the expectations the media, and likely herself, that was thrusted upon her. She would fall out of the top twenty, but when she came back, her game was inconsistent. Since this is a series, more questions will be posed for Ivanovic. Will she ever be able to find a consistency in her play? Will she ever win another Grand Slam?
2006 and 2007 were the breakout seasons for the Serbian. In '06, she won the US Open Series including a win in the Canadian Open over former world number one, Martina Hingis. 2007 was her first Grand Slam finals appearance, but she lost to Justine Henin in the French Open final. The Serb would also make the semifinals of Wimbledon before falling to Venus Williams. 2008 would see Miss Ivanovic win her maiden and lone major title to date defeating Dinara Safina at the French Open, overcoming her loss to Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open finals.
Just a year removed from winning her French Open title, the former world number one would fall out of the top twenty because of her inability to find her first serve. Without her first serve, she could not set up her go-to shot, her forehand. For a number of years she would toil around the top twenty leaving us wondering, would we ever see the Ivanovic from 2006-2008?
Last year, glimpses of the Ivanovic from 2006-2008 came back to life. She started off the season on the right foot with a title in Auckland and followed it up with a quarterfinals appearance in the Australian Open, losing in three sets to Eugenie Bouchard. A few months later, the Serb would go on to win in Monterrey. To start her clay court season she would make the finals of Stuttgart losing to Maria Sharapova, and made the semis of Rome losing to Serena Williams. However, she could not follow up her phenomenal clay court warmups losing in the third round. She made the difficult transition from clay to grass with relative ease winning a title in Birmingham. In spite of the title, Ivanovic would exit Wimbledon in the third round. At Stanford, a quarterfinal appearance by her earned her a spot back in the top ten, and in Cincinnati she would lose in the finals to Serena Williams after knocking off Maria Sharapova in a drama-filled three sets. She would once again offer another disappointing showing in a major getting knocked out of the second round of the US Open. She put another early major exit behind her with a title in Tokyo and clinched a spot in the WTA Year-End Championships with a semifinals appearance in Beijing. Ivanovic would go 2-1 in the round robin portion, but as Serena and Halep took sets off of her (Serena won in straight sets, and Halep took the second set off of Ivanovic.), she was unable to advance. She finished top-five in the world to end the year.
This year tennis fans were hoping to see more of the tennis that Ivanovic played last year, strong first serve followed by dictating rallies with her forehand. They saw some of that in Brisbane where she made the final, but lost to Sharapova despite taking the first set. Heading into the Australian Open, Ivanovic was labeled as one of favorites because of recent form and a quarterfinals appearance in Melbourne the year before. It was to no avail as she lost to Lucie Hradecka in the first round even though she took the first convincingly. The rest of the season followed with disappointing performances losing early in Dubai and Indian Wells. Her best result to date was making the semifinals in Monterrey, but she lost to Caroline Garcia in the semifinals.
It seems like tennis fans have seen this story before with Ivanovic. As soon as they see her best tennis she has faltered in moments they expect her to be winning consistently against players below her in the ranks, and players that are not of her caliber. After two titles at this point of the season last year, she has failed to capture any.
Time to answer the questions. Will she ever find a consistent gameplay? That is the million dollar question at this point. It seems like her play will waver year-by-year or maybe even month-by-month at this point. Her best days are not behind her yet, but maybe the consistency from tournament-to-tournament has past. Will she ever win a major again? At this point, I would have to say no to this question. There are too many players that play more consistently than her on the tour, and her wavering play leaves us wondering which Ivanovic will show up.