Ana Ivanovic - Serbian Tennis Champion And Hearthrob

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She is the current World No. 1 on the WTA Tour.

In 2008, she became the first Serbian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title when she won the French Open. She was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open.

Personal life

Ivanovic was born in an ethnic Serbian family. Her mother, Dragana, a lawyer, attends all of her daughter's matches. Ana's father, Miroslav, who is a self-employed businessman, attends as many events as he possibly can. Ana Ivanovic has a younger brother, Miloš, with whom she loves to play basketball. Other hobbies include shopping, watching movies and playing Sudoku. She chooses not to have a permanent coach. Aside from her tennis career, Ana Ivanovic also studies finance at a university in Belgrade, and Spanish in her spare time. Her inspiration to begin playing was Monica Seles, and she also admires Roger Federer.

Ana Ivanovic is a fan of all sport clubs competing under the name of Partizan Belgrade.

Ana Ivanovic is friends with former doubles partner Maria Kirilenko, as well as other professional tennis players Daniela Hantuchova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sanja Ancic, Rafael Nadal, Tatiana Golovin and fellow Serbians Novak Djokovic (whom she has known since the age of 5) and Janko Tipsarevic.

Playing style

Ana Ivanovic is an offensive baseliner. She relies heavily on the power, depth, and placement of her forehand strokes, producing many winners through penetrating, flat shots with occasional topspin. Her net play has improved significantly, and her drop shots are generally well executed. Ivanovic's two-handed backhand is solid, but if she has time to get in the correct court position, she prefers to hit an inside-out forehand. She has a forceful but unreliable serve, although she occasionally hits aces on her second serve. She has occasionally won matches with a first serve percentage of below 40%.

Because of her height, Ana Ivanovic spends much of her training time on improving her fitness and footwork.

Ivanovic often describes her own playing as "point by point," making it possible for her to win matches that seemed to have been lost. On the other hand, her quality of play can vary significantly from match to match. Ivanovic also has difficulty in adapting and changing her strategy when not in control of a match.

Ivanovic's style is suitable for all surfaces; however, clay courts give her more time to reach shots from her opponent. Although it is generally more difficult to hit through opponents on a slow clay surface, Ana Ivanovic has sufficiently powerful strokes to overcome much of this disadvantage.

Equipment

Ana Ivanovic endorsed Nike apparel and Nike tennis shoes at the beginning of her professional career, but at the beginning of 2006 she switched to rival adidas tennis shoes. She started with the Wilson HTour racquet, then upgraded to the nCode nTour and to the nCode nTour Two before switching to the nCode nBlade. Since the beginning of 2008, Ivanovic is using the Yonex RQiS Tour 1.

Career

Ana Ivanovic picked up a racket at the age of 5 after watching Monica Seles, a fellow Yugoslavian, at Roland Garros on television. She started her promising career at the age of 5, after memorizing the number of a local tennis clinic from an ad on TV. 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. When she was 15, Ivanovic spent four hours in the locker room crying after a defeat - the first that her new manager had watched - because she thought that Dan Holzmann was going to drop her because she felt that she wasn't good enough to become a professional tennis player. He has stayed as her manager to this day.


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Ana Ivanovic 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 ITF circuit, and won all 5 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 Zürich Open in Zürich, Switzerland, in which she held several set points in both sets; this was after a 3-set battle with then-ranked Number 27 Tatiana Golovin. She followed that up with a quarterfinal showing in Luxembourg the following week.

2005

Ana Ivanovic won her first career singles title, as a qualifier, in Canberra, Australia. Her ranking continued to rise after wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, and Vera Zvonareva, all of whom were top 10 players. Ivanovic lost to Amelie Mauresmo at the Australian Open, Doha, and Key Biscayne, Florida. However, Ivanovic defeated Mauresmo in the third round of the French Open. Ivanovic eventually reached the quarterfinals of that tournament, where she lost to Petrova. Later in the year, Ana Ivanovic reached the semifinals of the Zurich Open and Generali Ladies Linz, losing in both tournaments to Patty Schnyder. She finished the year at World No. 16 in the rankings and said that she "hope[s] to be in the Top 10 next year."

2006

Ana Ivanovic started off 2006 by playing at the Hopman Cup with fellow Serbian Novak Djokovic where the pair narrowly missed the final. To start off her WTA year she played at the Medibank International in Sydney where she once again defeated Amelie Mauresmo, this time in straight sets, before falling to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.

At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Ivanovic defeated Anna Chakvetadze 6–3 6–3 before falling to Elena Dementieva in three sets. In the clay court season, she defeated Patty Schnyder in straight sets at the J & S Cup in Warsaw before losing to Anna Chakvetadze after a three-set battle. Retiring against Na Li at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin while leading a set, she was unable to reproduce her record from the previous year, falling to Anastasia Myskina in straight sets in the third round of Roland Garros. She progressed to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon but lost to eventual champion Amelie Mauresmo, 6–3 6–4.

Ana Ivanovic made her breakthrough in August when she defeated former world number one and comeback queen Martina Hingis in the final of the Canada Masters in Montreal, 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. At the US Open she lost to the resurgent Serena Williams. After some early round losses to Olga Poutchkova at the Wismilak International in Bali and Venus Williams at the FORTIS Championships in Luxembourg, Ana Ivanovic took a few weeks off to tend to a recurring injury in her right shoulder. She made her return in Linz and made it to the quarterfinals of Generali Ladies, before losing to Maria Sharapova in two tight sets. To finish off her year she had a disappointing run at the Gaz de France Stars in Hasselt, Belgium, as she lost to Dutch player Michaella Krajicek.

Ana Ivanovic also played 9 tournaments in doubles this year, teaming up with Maria Kirilenko and Sania Mirza. Ivanovic and Kirilenko made 2 semi-finals and a final; they ended the year at number 17 in the annual Race to the Championships.

Ana Ivanovic 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 Top 200 finish in 2005.

Ivanovic's first tournament was the Mondial Hardcourts in Gold Coast, Australia, falling to Shahar Peer in the quarterfinals 5–7, 6–4, 6–4.

Her next tournament was the Sydney Medibank International, where she again lost in the quarterfinals, this time to Nicole Vaidisova 6–4, 6–2.

Ana Ivanovic was the 13th seed at the Australian Open. She defeated Polish player Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round but lost to World No. 22 Vera Zvonareva in the third round 6–1, 6–2. Immediately after the tournament, Ivanovic announced via her official website that she had terminated the services of her then-coach, David Taylor.

At the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Ivanovic reached her third career final, defeating Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Maria Sharapova retired from the match while trailing 6–1, 0–1. Ivanovic then lost to Martina Hingis in the final 6–4, 6–2.

Ana Ivanovic then left for Europe and played the tournament in Antwerp, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Kim Clijsters.

Ivanovic's next two tournaments were Tier I events in the United States. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, she was upset in the fourth round by Sybille Bammer. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Ana Ivanovic was upset by Yaroslava Shvedova in the second round.

The following week, Ivanovic began her clay court season at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida. She defeated Jankovic in the quarterfinals before falling to Tatiana Golovin 6–4, 3–6, 6–4. In her first appearance at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina the following week, Ivanovic lost to Vera Zvonareva in the third round.

Ivanovic then returned to Europe to play two red clay court tournaments. In Berlin at the Qatar Telecom German Open, she won her first Tier I clay court title. She defeated Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals and World No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. However, Ivanovic injured her ankle during the final, which forced her to withdraw from the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. The win in Berlin propelled her into the top ten of the WTA Rankings for the first time, at World No. 8.

Ana Ivanovic then headed into the French Open on a six-match winning streak. She increased this streak to twelve by reaching the final. She won her first three matches with the loss of only nine games. In her second career quarterfinal at Roland Garros, Ivanovic defeated World No. 3 Kuznetsova 6–0, 3–6, 6–1. She then beat World No. 2 Sharapova in the semifinals 6–2, 6–1. In the final, Ana Ivanovic attempted to win her first Grand Slam singles title and complete a sweep of the top three players in the world. Three-time winner Justine Henin, however, won the error-strewn match 6–1, 6–2. Later on, Ivanovic admitted that the idea of being in the final of a Grand Slam tournament overwhelmed her.

With the clay court season over, Ana Ivanovic played the Ordina Open on grass in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, losing in the quarterfinals to Daniela Hantuchova. At Wimbledon, Ivanovic defeated World No. 9 Nadia Petrova in the fourth round 6–1, 2–6, 6–4. In the quarterfinals, Ivanovic saved three match points to defeat Vaidisova 4–6, 6–2, 7–5. In the semifinals, three-time former Wimbledon champion Venus Williams defeated Ivanovic 6–2, 6–4.

A pestering knee injury, sustained at Wimbledon, required Ivanovic to withdraw from Serbian Fed Cup competition with Slovakia and two lead up events to the U.S. Open. Ivanovic returned to the tour at the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California. In the semifinals, Ivanovic played her country woman Jelena Jankovic for the third time that year. Ana Ivanovic saved two match points before winning the match 4–6, 6–3, 7–5. In the final, Ivanovic defeated Petrova to win the fourth singles title of her career, which propelled her to a career high ranking of World No. 4.

Ana Ivanovic next attempted to defend her title at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada. However, her title defence lasted only 65 minutes as she lost to Chinese qualifier Yan Zi 6–3, 6–1.

In Ivanovic's first three matches at the U.S. Open, she lost only 10 games. Venus Williams then eliminated her for the second consecutive time at a Grand Slam tournament, 6–4, 6–2.

Ana Ivanovic then returned to Europe for three tournaments. At the Tier II (now changed to Tier III) Luxembourg Championships, Ivanovic qualified for the WTA Tour Championships as she reached the semifinals. In the final, Ivanovic rallied from 6–3, 3–0 down to defeat Hantuchova in two hours and 25 minutes. This was her fifth career title. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Ivanovic lost to Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko in the second round 6–2, 1–6, 6–3. Playing at what Ivanovic considers her home event, the Tier I Zürich Open, she lost to Golovin in the second round 6–3, 6–1.

To end the year, Ivanovic played the WTA Tour Championships in Madrid, Spain. Seeded fourth and assigned to the Red Group during the round robin phase, she defeated World No. 2 Kuznetsova in a close three-set match and Hantuchova in straight sets. Sharapova then defeated Ivanovic in the final match of the round robin 6–1, 6–2. Because she finished second in her group, Ivanovic played World No. 1 Henin in the semifinals, which the Belgian won 6–4, 6–4.

Ana Ivanovic finished the year with a career-high ranking of World No. 4, a mere 14 points behind Jankovic.

2008

Ana Ivanovic started the year by participating in an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong, where she was seeded first. She lost to Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals 6–4, 1–6, 6–3. Ivanovic then entered the Silver Group, a competition among all first match losers. Based on her world ranking, she was favored to win that competition; however, she lost to World No. 45 Shuai Peng 6–1, 6–3.

Ivanovic's next tournament was the Tier II Medibank International in Sydney, which attracted 12 of the top 15 ranked women. After trailing 5–2 in the third set of her second round match, Ivanovic defeated Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 6–1, 2–6, 7–5. In the quartefinals, Ivanovic defeated Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik but then lost to Justine Henin in the semifinals 6–2, 2–6, 6–4. This was the first time in four meetings Ivanovic took a set off Henin.

Ana Ivanovic entered the Australian Open as the fourth seed and reached the quarterfinals for the first time. There, Ivanovic defeated Venus Williams for the first time 7–6, 6–4. In her semifinal against Daniela Hantuchova, Ivanovic prevailed 0–6, 6–3, 6–4 to reach her second career Grand Slam singles final, after having trailed 6–0, 2–0. She then lost to Maria Sharapova 7–5, 6–3. Because of her performance at this tournament, her ranking rose to World No. 2, the highest of her career.

In Serbia's Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I D round robin tie against Poland in Budapest, Ana Ivanovic defeated World No. 215 Urszula Radwanska in straight sets. In Serbia's second round robin tie against Romania, Ivanovic defeated Monica Niculescu 5–7, 6–4, 7–5 and then teamed with Jelena Jankovic to win the deciding doubles rubber against the Romanian team 2–6, 7–6(3), 7–6(2). In the promotion playoff, Ivanovic beat Renee Reinhard of the Netherlands 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 as Serbia advanced to the World Group II playoffs in April.

Ana Ivanovic was the top-seeded player at the Qatar Total Open in Doha for the first time in a Tier I tournament. She defeated Olga Govortsova in the second round 6–3, 6–1 but subsequently withdrew from the tournament because of an ankle injury suffered during that match. The following week at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, the third-seeded Ivanovic lost in the quarterfinals to the eighth-seeded Dementieva 5–7, 6–3, 6–3.

In March at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, the top-seeded Ivanovic defeated Jankovic in the semifinals 7–6(3), 6–3 before defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Ana Ivanovic was the second-seeded player but lost to Lindsay Davenport in the third round in straight sets.

Ivanovic was the defending champion and second-seeded player at the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin. She lost, however, to Dementieva in the semifinals 6–2, 7–5 for the fourth time in four career matches. At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Ivanovic was the top seed but lost in the second round to Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6–4, 5–7, 6–2.

Ana Ivanovic was the second-seeded player at the French Open. She defeated World No. 3 Jankovic in the semifinals 6–4, 3–6, 6–4, guaranteeing that Ivanovic would become the World No. 1, regardless of whether she won the final. Ivanovic then went on to defeat Dinara Safina in the final, winning her first Grand Slam singles title.

Ivanovic's next scheduled tournament is the International Women's Open in Eastbourne, United Kingdom.

At Wimbledon, Ana Ivanovic was the top-seeded player and defeated French veteran player Nathalie Dechy in the second round 6–7(2), 7–6(3), 10–8. The match took 3 hours, 24 minutes to play, with Ivanović saving two match points while trailing 5–4 in the second set and Dechy saving three match points in the third set before succumbing. Ivanović then lost in the third round to unseeded wildcard Zheng Jie of China, who was ranked World No. 133, 6–1, 6–4.

The summer hardcourt season started with a third round loss at the Rogers Cup in Montreal to Tamira Paszek. Ivanović, bothered by a sore thumb sustained during practice two weeks before Montreal, withdrew from the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. This caused her to lose her World No. 1 ranking to Janković. The injury also caused her to withdraw from the Summer Olympics in Beijing, with Ivanović describing the withdrawal as "one of the worst moments of her career". Ivanović, having reclaimed her World No. 1 ranking on August 18, was the top-seeded player at the US Open. Ivanović lost in the second round to French Julie Coin, which was the earliest loss by a top seeded player at the US Open since the 1973 tournament.

In her first match after the US Open, which was the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Ana Ivanovic was defeated by Nadia Petrova of Russia in three sets, bringing her win-loss record since the French Open to 4–4. Ivanović later told the press that she was "just happy to be back injury-free" and that she needed to "play more matches get back into rhythm".

Ivanović beat World No. 18 Alize Cornet in the second round of the China Open in Beijing before losing to Zheng Jie in the quarterfinals in three sets. At the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Ivanović was upset by Slovak teenager Dominika Cibulkova in the second round. In the last edition of the Zurich Open in Switzerland, Ivanović won back-to-back matches for the first time since Wimbledon. However, in her sixth semifinal of the year, Ana Ivanovic lost to Venus Williams. At the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria, Ivanović reached her first WTA Tour final since the French Open and went on to defeat second-seeded Vera Zvonareva in straight sets.

At the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar, Ivanović was the fourth seed. In her first round robin match, she was defeated by World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic6–3, 6–4. Her next match was against Zvonareva, to whom she lost 6–3, 6–7(5), 6–4. She withdrew from her final match against Kuznetsova because of a virus.

2009

Ivanović started the year by playing two tournaments in Australia. At the Brisbane International, Ivanović lost to Amelie Mauresmo 6–3, 6–2 in the quarterfinals. At the Australian Open, Ivanović was seeded fifth and won her first two matches in straight sets before losing to 29th seed Russian Alisa Kleybanova in the third round 7–5, 6–7(5), 6–2.

Ana Ivanovic took part in Serbia's Fed Cup win in the World Group II tie against Japan. She defeated Ai Sugiyama and Ayumi Morita to help Serbia to a 4–1 win. At the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Premier 5 event on the tour, she lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinals 6–4, 6–4. Around this time, Ivanović began working with coach Craig Kardon in February after parting with former coach Sven Groeneveld.

At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, where she was defending champion, Ivanović defeated 12th-seeded Flavia Penneta in the fourth round 6–4, 4–6, 6–4. Having advanced to the final she lost to Vera Zvonareva in a match plagued by windy conditions, 7–6(5), 6–2. In Miami, Ivanović lost in the third round to Ágnes Szávay. In April, Ivanović took part in the Serbia's Fed Cup World Group Play-offs against Spain. She defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues to help Serbia gain promotion to the World Group with a 4–0 win.

In Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, fifth seeded Ivanović defeated Italian Francesca Schiavone before being defeated by the 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round, 6–1, 3–6, 6–4, throwing away a 4–0 lead in the third set. She withdrew from the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open because of a knee injury . At the 2009 French Open, Ivanović won her first three matches in straight sets, before crashing out to Victoria Azarenka in the 4th round 6–2, 6–3. This early loss caused Ivanović to fall out of the top ten for the first time since first cracking it in May 2007, sitting at World No. 13. After this, Ivanović announced that she had ceased working with Craig Kardon and will be participating in the adidas Player Development Program where she will be coached by Sven Groeneveld, Darren Cahill, Mats Merkel and Gil Reyes.

Starting the grass court season, Ana Ivanovic was unseeded and lost in the first round of the AEGON International to the seventh seed Nadia Petrova in three sets 6–1, 4–6, 6–4 despite being 4–1 and a double break up in the final set. Ivanović partnered Sabine Lisicki in doubles but the pairing was defeated in the first round by Cara Black and Liezel Huber, 6–1, 6–2.

At Wimbledon, Ivanović was seeded 13th. She opened the tournament against Lucie Hradecká and had to save two match points before eventually winning 5–7, 6–2, 8–6. This became the third year in a row where Ivanović had to save match points at Wimbledon. She followed up this match with wins over Sara Errani and 18th seeded Samantha Stosur, only her second win over a top 15 opponent this season. She retired from her fourth round match with Venus Williams while trailing 6–1, 0–1, due to a micro-tear in her thigh.

In preparation for the U.S. Open, Ivanović took part in three tournaments. In the LA Women's Tennis Championships in Los Angeles, Ivanović reached the third round, where she fell to Samantha Stosur, 6–3, 6–2. Her next tournament was the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati where she was upset in the second round by Melinda Czink, 7–6(6), 7–5, despite serving for the first set at 5–4 and holding a 3–0 advantage in the second. Ivanović then lost to Lucie Šafářová 3–6, 7–5, 6–3, at the Rogers Cup in Toronto despite serving for the match in the second set at 5–4. Ivanović routinely produced high number of double faults during this period due to a temporary change in her service motion due to a shoulder injury sustained prior to the U.S. Open Series.

At the U.S. Open, Ivanović lost in the first round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko, 2–6, 6–3, 7–6(7), despite holding a 3–1 lead in the second set and having match point on her serve in the third set tiebreak. After the match, former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash criticized Ivanović's new service motion, calling watching it a "painful experience" and that it "weakens her threat". He also felt that Ana Ivanovic was "over-analysing" her game and that her main problem is "her lack of confidence".

At the Premier 5 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Ivanović suffered her third successive defeat losing in the first round to Lucie Šafářová, 6–4, 7–6(1), having held a 3–0 lead in the second set. This was only the second time in her career that Ivanović had suffered three back-to-back defeats. Citing an upper respiratory tract infection, Ivanović pulled out of the China Open, and announced via her official website that she was taking the rest of the year off.

She finished the year with a 24–14 match record, her worst since she turned pro, and with no titles. Ivanović has only reached three quarter-finals, one semi-final and final and has only won back-to-back matches six times, only two coming in non grand slam events. Ivanović ended the year ranked 21, the first time she has been ranked outside the Top 20 since July 2005. Her boyfriend professional golfer Adam Scott also suffered a form slump during 2009.

2010

Ivanović has started the year playing her first competitive tournament (since September), at the 2010 Brisbane International. Seeded 3rd, Ivanović reached her first semifinal since Indian Wells, defeating Jelena Dokić, Timea Bacsinszky and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova en route, but lost to wild card Justine Henin , 6–3, 6–2, in Henin's first tournament since her return from retirement.

Ana Ivanovic was seeded 20th at the 2010 Australian Open. She reached the second round after defeating qualifier Shenay Perry in straight sets in the opening round. There, she lost to Gisela Dulko 6–7(6), 7–5, 6–4, having led 3–1 in the second set.

Ivanović then participated in the opening round of the 2010 Fed Cup in Serbia's tie against Russia. She went 0-2 in her singles matches, losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alisa Kleybanova, both in straight sets. She partnered with Jelena Janković in the deciding doubles match, but they fell to Kuznetsova and Kleybanova. Ivanović then withdrew from Dubai with shoulder tendonitis.

Ivanović then announced that she was working with Steffi Graf's former coach Heinz Gunthardt on a trial basis during the spring North American hard court season, suspending her relationship with the Adidas Player Development Program indefinitely. In her first match under Gunthardt, a one-set semi-final against reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters in the 2010 Billie Jean King Cup at Madison Square Garden, Ivanović lost in a tie-break despite having match point on the ninth game.

At the 2010 BNP Paribas Open, Ivanović lost her opening match to world no. 63 Anastasija Sevastova 6–2, 6–4, losing her serve five times. This was Ivanović's fourth consecutive loss, the first time she had suffered four consecutive losses in her career. She also lost a huge number of points, having made the final in 2009. Due to this defeat, she dropped 30 places in the WTA Rankings from No.28 to No.58. This is the first time she has been out of the top 50 since she cracked it in March 2005. Seeded 25th at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Ivanović won her first match since the Australian Open, beating qualifier Pauline Parmentier 6–4, 6–3 in the second round. She then lost to Agnieszka Radwańska 7–5, 7–5 in the third round.

In her first clay court event of the year at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Ana Ivanovic suffered yet another opening round exit at the hands of the 5th seed Radwańska, losing 7–6(4), 6–4. In the doubles partnering Andrea Petkovic, she lost to the pair of Borwell and Kops-Jones in her first doubles match since June 2009.

Going into the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome with a 5-7 win-loss record for the year, she defeated World No. 32 Elena Vesnina in the first round 6–1, 6–3 in 64 minutes. In the second round, she upset World No. 10 Victoria Azarenka, 6–4, 6–4, her first win over a top 10 player since October 2008. She then defeated World No. 7 Elena Dementieva for the first time in her career, 6–1, 7–6(5), to advance to the quarterfinals where she defeated 14th seeded Nadia Petrova 6–2, 7–5. She lost to María José Martínez Sánchez in the semifinals, 6–4, 6–2. Her run to the semifinals in Rome caused her singles rankings to rise by 16 places and her race to the Sony Ericsson championships ranking by 40 places.

She was granted a wildcard into the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open in Madrid, and received a bye in the first round due to her semifinal appearance at Rome. This also makes her the first unseeded wildcard to receive a bye in the history of the WTA Tour. She lost in the second round to Jelena Janković 4–6, 6–4, 6–1, despite having led 2–0 in the second set.

Ivanović entered the 2010 French Open unseeded at a major for the first time since 2005. After defeating Chang Kai-Chen of Taipei in the first round of the French Open 6-3, 6-3, she went down to Russia's 28th seed Alisa Kleybanova 6-3 6-0. Her win loss record for the year stands at 10–10.

Grand Slam singles finals

Win (1)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2008 French Open Dinara Safina 6–4, 6–3

Runner-ups (2)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2007 French Open Justine Henin 6–1, 6–2
2008 Australian Open Maria Sharapova 7–5, 6–3

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