Mario Ancic (born March 30, 1984) is a professional tennis player from Croatia, and a trained lawyer. He is sometimes nicknamed "Super Mario" or "Baby Goran." As a teenager making his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon in 2002, he defeated 7th-seeded Roger Federer, becoming the first teenager since Bjorn Borg to win his Wimbledon debut on Centre Court. The win also makes him the last player to defeat Federer at the All England Club, and Grass courts. Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic became one of the only doubles teams to ever defeat Bob and Mike Bryan in Davis Cup history. Ancic helped Croatia win the 2005 Davis Cup, where they triumphed over the Slovakian Davis Cup team in the final. Mario has sponsorship agreements with adidas, Yonex, and Vipnet. Mario Ancic is represented by Olivier van Lindonk of IMG. Tennis career Early life and pre-ATP career Mario Ancic was born in Split, the second son of Stipe Ancic , who owns a supermarket chain, and Nilda, a financial advisor. He has an older brother Ivica, who travels and works with him, and a younger sister Sanja, who was a top 10 junior in the world in 2005. He started playing tennis at the age of seven. Since he was 10 Ancic practiced and trained with Croatian tennis champion Goran Ivanisevic. As a junior his base was at the "Firule" Tennis Club in Split. Mario Ancic became one of the top junior tennis players in the world. In 1999, he represented Croatia in the NEC World Youth Cup, helping them to the runners-up position. He also made his debut for Croatia in Davis Cup in the tie against Portugal in a dead-rubber against Joao Cunha-Silva, but lost in straight sets. He ended his first year as a junior as world number 24. Ancic kept up the good work in 2000, reaching the final at Jr. Boys Wimbledon at the age of 16, where he lost to Nicolas Mahut of France in three sets. He was also a finalist at the Jr. Australian Open and semifinalist at the Jr. U.S. Open, losing to Andy Roddick on both occasions. The same year he won his first futures tournament in Zagreb, beating Ivo Karlovic in the final. In Davis Cup play, he won his rubber against Latvia and finished the year as world number four among the juniors. In 2000, Mario Ancic played alongside countryman Goran Ivanisevic in the doubles event at the Sydney Olympics, losing in the first round. 2001 saw Ancic reach the finals at the China and Canada futures events. In 2002, Ancic compiled a record of 30-16 in Challenger play, winning the title in Belgrade after defeating Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia and Montenegro. He followed this up with runner up efforts in Ho Chi Minh and Kyoto. ATP tour career His debut at an ATP event was at Miami where he lost to Adrian Voinea in the first round. The clear highlight of his season came on his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon, where Mario Ancic qualified and caused a major upset by defeating then world number 9 Roger Federer on Centre Court in the first round. In doing so he became the first teenager to win on his Wimbledon debut on Center Court since Björn Borg triumphed in 1973. He ended 2002 on a good note winning challengers at Prague and Milan. In 2003 Ancic made his Australian Open debut, reaching the fourth round before losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain. The following week he captured the Hamburg Challenger, defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain. He reached his first ATP quarter final at St. Poelten and finished the season with a quarterfinal showing in Stockholm. He claimed his first ATP doubles title in Indianapolis partnering Andy Ram of Israel. 2004 Mario Ancic began 2004 at the Australian Open reaching the third round before falling to Mark Philippoussis of Australia. He returned to action in Milan where posted wins over Fabrice Santoro, Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo and Thomas Johansson en route to his first ATP tour final against Frenchman Anthony Dupuis where he was defeated in three sets, losing in a third set tiebreak In June and July he posted his best ever results on grass with a third round showing at Queens, losing to Andy Roddick, and a semifinal at S'Hertogenbosch. losing to Guillermo Coria of Argentina. At Wimbledon, Ancic made his best ever grand-slam showing defeating local favourite Tim Henman en route to a semifinal against Andy Roddick, against whom he was defeated in 4 sets. At the Athens Olympics, Ancic teamed up with Ivan Ljubicic to win a bronze medal for Croatia in doubles, defeating Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes of India 16-14 in the third set. In September Mario Ancic reached the semifinal at Delray Beach before losing to Ricardo Mello of Brazil.
2005 In the year 2005, Ancic improved his year end Indesit ATP ranking for the sixth consecutive year, highlighted by his first career ATP title at s'Hertogenbosch, where he defeated Michael Llodra, the defending champion. At the Australian Open Ancic lost in the third round to eventual champion Marat Safin in four sets. In February he reached the semifinal at Marseille, losing to Ljubicic, and Rotterdam, where he lost to world number one Roger Federer. He followed this up with a runner up showing at Scottsdale, losing to Wayne Arthurs. He could not repeat last year's performance at Wimbledon, losing to Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the fourth round. A fine run in Japan saw Mario Ancic reach the final in Tokyo where he lost to South African Wesley Moodie after having held two match points. He reached the quarterfinal at Lyon, losing to Roddick, winner of the tournament. In doubles play, he claimed his second ATP title in Munich, playing alongside Julian Knowle of Austria. Ancic ended 2005 on a high as he played the deciding rubber in the Davis Cup final in Bratislava, defeating Michal Mertinak of Slovakia 7–6(1), 6–3, 6–4. This win gave Croatia its first ever Davis Cup victory making then the first unseeded nation to win the coveted trophy. 2006 Ancic started the year 2006 on a strong note in his second tournament of the year at Auckland, where he defeated top seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile on his way to the final. However, he could not repeat his form in the final, going down in straight sets to his good friend Jarkko Nieminen. At the Australian Open, he reached the third round, before capitulating in straight sets to 10th seed David Ferrer of Spain. In the first round of Davis Cup, Mario Ancic beat Jürgen Melzer of Austria in clay, 6–7, 6–7, 6–4, 6–4, 6–3. In Marseilles of 2006 Ancic reached the finals (beating the Croatian Davis Cup player-captain Ivan Ljubicic on the way) where he lost to Arnaud Clement in straight sets. In Rotterdam he met Nieminen again in the first round and lost in a close two-setter. At the 2006 French Open he reached the quarterfinals in which he lost to Roger Federer. In this tournament, he had a shoving incident with Chile's Paul Capdeville at the end of his second round match. After the loss, Capdeville protested, and Ancic told him to stop climing. Paul answered that it wasn't his business, and then Ancic pushed him, Capdeville did the same, and were soon separated by the chair umpire. Ancic and Capdeville were each fined $3,000 for the incident. After that Mario Ancic went on beating Albert Montanes and Tommy Robredo of Spain to reach his first-ever French Open quarterfinal before losing to Federer. Ancic improved both his results in the American hard-court Masters Series Indian Wells and Nasdaq-100 tournaments, reaching the fourth round and quarterfinals respectively. He lost to Ljubicic in California and David Nalbandian in Florida. He reached the semi-finals in the Hamburg Masters but lost to Spaniard Tommy Robredo, who eventually won the title (d. Radek Stepanek in straight sets). In Wimbledon Mario Ancic was beaten yet again by Roger Federer in the quarter-finals. After Wimbledon, Ancic missed the US hardcourt season, including the 2006 US Open due to a knee injury received in a jet skiing accident. He was runner-up in his first event back (China Open l. to Marcos Baghdatis 4–6 0–6) in which he also won the doubles title (w/ Bhupathi). On October 29, Ancic won his third career title after defeating Swede Thomas Johansson 7–5 7–6(2) at the St. Petersburg Open. He ended the 2006 season ranked 9th in the INDESIT ATP rankings, narrowly missing a spot in the eight-man Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.
2007 Mario Ancic began the year playing with his younger sister, Sanja, at the official mixed teams competition of the ITF, the 2007 Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia. Prior to the Australian Open, Ancic played at the Heineken Open in New Zealand, losing in the second round in a bid to defend his runner-up showing the previous year. He entered the 2007 Australian Open as the ninth seed and posted wins over Go Soeda and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to reach the 3rd round. In the third round, Ancic defeated the No. 22 seed, Dominik Hrbatý6-3, 6–2, 6–1 to advance to a fourth round matchup against Andy Roddick, seeded sixth. Ancic fared well against the big-serving American; however, he lost in five sets 3–6, 6–3, 1–6, 7–5, 4–6, missing out few volleys in the fifth set, which later on turned out to be crucial for the match. At the Open 13 in Marseille, Mario Ancic dropped out in the first round to Italian Andreas Seppi, retiring because of illness after losing the first 4 games. Later, he was diagnosed with mononucleosis,(also known as glandular fever) which forced him to withdraw from competition for several months. Due to his illness he missed five masters series tournaments and two Grand Slams (French Open and Wimbledon). He was due to return to the 2007 ATP Tour at the Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships in Newport in early July, but he had to withdraw. He was also due at the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles a week later, but again he withdrew. He eventually returned to the tour in August at the Canada Masters event in Montréal, where he defeated Canadian wildcard Frederic Niemeyer in the first round, 6–4, 6–2. Mario Ancic lost in the second round to Paul-Henri Mathieu. He followed that by reaching the second round of the Cincinnati Masters where he defeated 12th seed Tommy Haas in the first round before losing to Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the third set tiebreak. Ancic was offered a wild card for main draw in the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament, New Haven, but he turned it down with the explanation that he needed matches. Instead, he entered the qualifications and successfully passed the three rounds before losing in the first round of the main draw to Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6, 6–4. Mario Ancic didn't play at the 2007 U.S. Open because of a shoulder injury. Later it was announced that Mario had broken a small bone in his shoulder while practicing in the gym. In October, he returned and won two matches at the Stockholm Open, before losing in the quarterfinals to eventual finalist Thomas Johansson in three sets. His best result in 2007 came at Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid where he reached quarterfinal beating Marc Gicquel 6:4, 6:2, world no.8 James Blake 6:3, 6:4 and Paul-Henri Mathieu 6:4, 6:3, only to be beaten by world n.3 Novak Djokovic in straight sets. 2008 Mario Ancic started the year again with illness. He got a stomach virus and was forced to withdraw from the tournaments in Adelaide, Auckland and the 2008 Australian Open. His first tournament was Marseille Open where he reached the finals beating on the way Australian-Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis. He lost in straight sets to Andy Murray. At the 2008 Pacific Life Open, as a wild card, Ancic defeated Gael Monfils and Fernando Gonzalez, before losing to former number one Juan Carlos Ferrero 7–5, 4–6, 7–6 (7). At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, as a wild card, Mario Ancic defeated Gilles Simon in the first round 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3. He then defeated Andy Murray in a rollercoaster match 6-2 2-6 7-6(7). He saved two match points during the third set tie-break. He defeated Argentine Juan Monaco in the third round 7-6(5) 4-6 6-1. He eventually lost in the fourth round to World No. 4 and eventual champion Russian Nikolay Davydenko in a tight three set match. He reached the third round of the 2008 French Open in Paris, where he was beaten in straight sets by the world n.1 Roger Federer. Together with Jurgen Melzer , Mario has won doubles title at Ordina Open 2008. Mario Ancic reached the fourth round of Wimbledon, after an emotional four set win over No. 5 seed David Ferrer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(3). He followed that match up with an amazing comeback against No. 22 seed Fernando Verdasco coming from two sets down to win 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 13-11. He played world number one Roger Federer in the quarterfinals and lost 6-1, 7-5, 6-4. Style Mario Ancic plays an all-court game and is able to adapt his game to all surfaces, making him a difficult player to play regardless of the surface. Ancic also has a good serve and is capable of producing many aces in a match. On grass and faster surfaces he serves and volleys but on slower courts he is more than able to rally from the back of the court. Mario Ancic prefers to serve and volley rather than play baseline rallies as there are better players with a more aggressive baseline attitude that can push through Ancic. Mario Ancic Records and trivia * At the end of the 2002 season, Mario Ancic was — at 18 years 8 months — the youngest player in the ATP Top 100. * After Wimbledon 2004 Boris Becker stated "The future has arrived and his name is Mario Ancic". * Ancic acted as ball boy for his hero Ivanisevic and the Davis Cup team during the tie with Australia in 1996.[citation needed] * Ancic is a graduate of the Law School of the University of Split in Split, Croatia. ATP Tour titles Singles titles (3) Grand Slam (0) Singles finalist (7)
Personal achievements Mario Ancic is a trained lawyer, defending his thesis at the University of Split on 14 April 2008. His dissertation involved a presentation on law and tennis. "In front of a crowd of 300 people, that included students and professors in the Law program, members of the Croatian Olympic Committee, Administer (sic) of Sport, family and friends, Ancic gave his 45-minute thesis on "ATP Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," describing the legal foundation and organization of the ATP Tour. Afterwards, Ancic took questions from professors and students."
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