Goran Ivanišević

Goran Ivanišević (Croatian pronunciation: [ɡǒran iʋanǐːʃɛʋitɕ]; born 13 September 1971) is a retired Croatian professional tennis player and current tennis coach. He is the only person to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001, having previously been runner-up at the championships in 1992, 1994 and 1998. Before the 2001 tournament, he was ranked 125th and after his victory he was 16th. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 2 (behind Pete Sampras) in 1994. He is the current coach of Marin Čilić.

Career

Goran is the son of Srđan and Gorana (née Škaričić). He turned professional in 1988 and, later that year, with Rüdiger Haas, won his first career doubles title in Frankfurt. Although he focused mostly on his singles career, he also had some success in doubles, winning nine titles and reaching a career-high ranking of 20.

In 1989, as a qualifier he made the quarter finals of the Australian Open. Ivanišević made his first significant impact on the tour in 1990, knocking Boris Becker out of the first round of the French Open men's singles; he went on to reach the quarter-finals. He was also, with Petr Korda, the runner-up in the French Open men's doubles. At that year's Wimbledon, Ivanišević reached the semi-finals, where he lost to Becker in four sets. Ivanišević also won his first tour singles title in 1990 at Stuttgart and helped Yugoslavia win the World Team Cup. He played in eight ties for Yugoslavia in the Davis Cup before quitting the team after the declaration of independence in 1991. Yugoslavia lost its subsequent tie against France 5–0.

Pat Rafter

Patrick Michael "Pat" Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former World No. 1 tennis player. He twice won the men's singles title at the US Open and was twice the runner-up at Wimbledon. He was known for his natural serve-and-volley style of play. He became the first man in the Open Era to win Montreal/Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open in the same year (1998); this achievement has been dubbed the American Summer Slam.

Tennis career

1990s

Rafter turned professional in 1991 and won his first career singles title in 1994 in Manchester. Prior to 1997, this was the only ATP singles title he had won.

Rafter's breakthrough came in 1997. At that year's French Open he reached the semifinals, falling in four sets to Sergi Bruguera. Then he surprised many by winning the US Open, defeating Greg Rusedski in a four-set final and Andre Agassi and Michael Chang, among others, in earlier rounds; he was the first non-American to win the title since Stefan Edberg in 1992. This was his first Grand Slam title, and catapulted him ahead of Chang to finish the year ranked #2 in the world, behind only Pete Sampras. The unexpected nature of his U.S. Open title led many, including Hall-of-famer and four-time U.S. Open champion John McEnroe to criticise Rafter as a "one-slam wonder".

Goran

Goran (pronounced [ɡǒran]; Cyrillic: Горан) is a South Slavic male first name, mostly used in republics of Former Yugoslavia, such as Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Goran is a Slavic, Pre-Christian (BC) name. Purely Slavic origin non-biblican or christian. Goran meaning in old Slav tradition means "highlander" a mountain-man, someone who lives in the mountains. Hence, Goran in Slavic tradition would mean someone who enjoys and values life in the mountains.

In Former Yugoslavia Gorani was a Yugoslav Youth Organization tasked with re-foresting Yugoslav highlands.

Variations

Nicknames and cognomen include Gogi [ɡoɡi], Gogo [ɡoːɡo].

Name day

Famous namesakes