Ilija Bozoljac ( sr-Cyrl, Илија Бозољац, ; born 2 August 1985) is a former Serbian professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

player and coach. On 29 January 2007, Bozoljac reached his best singles ranking of world No. 101. On 22 February 2016, he peaked at world No. 99 in the doubles rankings. Bozoljac's strongest weapon is a very powerful serve that he can hit at up to , along with powerful

groundstroke In racket sports a groundstroke, or ground stroke, refers to a forehand or backhand shot that is executed after the ball has bounced on the court. The term is commonly used in the sports of tennis and pickleball, and is counter to a volley sho ...

s. His nickname is Bozo.

Professional career

2006

2006 was arguably Bozoljac's best year. In January, he had his best result at the ATP level in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, beating no. 170

Dudi Sela David "Dudi" Sela ( he, דודי סלע; born 4 April 1985) is an Israeli professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 29 in July 2009. Sela won the French Open 2003 junior doubles title. Representing Israe ...

to qualify, and then beating no. 77

Daniele Bracciali Daniele Bracciali (; born 10 January 1978) is an Italian former tennis player, best ranked world no. 21 in doubles. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world no. 49, achieved in May 2006. In doubles, he reached the semifinals of the 2012 Fren ...

and no. 34

Feliciano López Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.In 2005, López was t ...

, before losing to no. 81

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...

in the quarterfinals.

2008

In May, Bozoljac narrowly missed qualifying into the

2008 French Open The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 112th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 25 May until 8 J ...

, losing to no. 75

Eduardo Schwank Eduardo Jonatan Schwank (; also known as ''Schwanka''; born 23 April 1986) is a retired professional tennis player from Argentina. In 2011, he reached the finals of the French Open in men's doubles partnering Juan Sebastian Cabal and of the US ...

in the qualifying round. In June, Bozoljac entered the main draw of 2008 Wimbledon as a lucky loser, after beating Nick Monroe and

Robert Smeets Robert Smeets (born 10 November 1985) is an Australian retired professional tennis player. Though born in the Netherlands, Smeets moved to Australia aged 12 and took residency. Personal life Smeets has two sisters, called Karin and Cheyenne. H ...

, but losing to Stefano Galvani in the qualifying round in five sets.

2010

Bozoljac qualified for Wimbledon and progressed to the second round, where he was defeated in four tight sets by defending champion

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...

. He was a reserve player on the

Serbia Davis Cup team The Serbian men's national tennis team represents Serbia in the Davis Cup and the ATP Cup, both tennis competitions. Since June 2006, the team has played under the name of Serbia, following the split of Yugoslavia. Serbia won the Davis Cup title ...

when they won the Davis Cup title.

2013

Bozoljac began 2013 by returning to the

ITF Men's circuit The ITF World Tennis Tour (formerly known as the ''ITF Men's World Tennis Tour'', and previously ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. ...

, taking three singles titles in the opening three months. In April, Ilija and his doubles partner

Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...

beat Bob and Mike Bryan in the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals against the United States, winning 7–6⁽⁵⁾, 7–6⁽¹⁾, 5–7, 4–6, 15–13 in a performance described by

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

as "Bozo goes Beast Mode...there was Bozoljac playing out of his mind in a five-set win that left everyone shaking their heads". Bozoljac was praised by the Bryan brothers and by U.S. team captain

Jim Courier James Spencer "Jim" Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He won four major singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He was the youngest man to reach the singles finals of ...

, who said "Let's all tip our hats to his performance. We had him 15-30 a couple times, and the guy came up with some incredible shots."

Style of play

Bozoljac is known for his unique style of play. He often changes the way he performs forehands and backhands, hitting double-handed forehands and single-handed backhands. He also has a strong serve, but he has to limit the strength of his serve due to a back injury. Nevertheless, he still serves well over 200 km/h.

Personal life

Bozoljac was born on August, 2, 1985 in

Aleksandrovac Aleksandrovac ( sr-cyr, Александровац) is a town and municipality located in the Rasina District of central Serbia. As of 2011, the town has a population of 6,476 inhabitants, while the municipality has 26,522 inhabitants. History Fr ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

, to Jelena and Miroljub Bozoljac. He started playing tennis in TK Partizan in Belgrade and turned pro in 2002. He's married to Andrijana Basarić since 2011 and they have two daughters named Lola (b. 2012) and Nika (b. 2015). They live in Belgrade, Serbia.

Team competition finals

ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 25 (13–12)

Doubles: 27 (17–10)

Performance timelines

Singles

''Current through the 2015 Banja Luka Challenger.'' ¹ Held as

Hamburg Masters The Hamburg European Open (formerly ''German Open Tennis Championships'') is an annual tennis tournament for professional players held in Hamburg, Germany and part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. Before 2021, it was a mal ...

(outdoor clay) until 2008, Madrid Masters (outdoor clay) 2009 – present.

Doubles

''Current through

2018 Wimbledon Championships The 2018 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main tournament began on Monday, 2 July 2018 and finished on Sunday, ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bozoljac, Ilija 1985 births Living people Serbian male tennis players Serbian tennis coaches Serbia and Montenegro male tennis players Yugoslav male tennis players People from Aleksandrovac