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Ilija Bozoljac

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Ilija Bozoljac
Country (sports) Yugoslavia (2002–2003)
 Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2006)
 Serbia (2006–2018)
ResidenceBelgrade, Serbia
Born (1985-08-02) 2 August 1985 (age 39)
Aleksandrovac, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Turned pro2002
Retired2018
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed both sides, occasionally one-handed forehand)
CoachDaniel Meyers
Prize money$742,198
Singles
Career record11–20
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 101 (29 January 2007)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (2007)
French Open2R (2006)
Wimbledon2R (2008, 2010)
US OpenQ3 (2010, 2011)
Doubles
Career record9–18
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 99 (22 February 2016)
Grand Slam doubles results
Wimbledon2R (2017)
Team competitions
Davis CupF (2013)
Last updated on: 29 October 2018.

Ilija Bozoljac (Serbian Cyrillic: Илија Бозољац, pronounced [ǐlija boˈzǒːʎats]; born 2 August 1985) is a former Serbian professional tennis player and coach. Bozoljac achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 101 on 29 January 2007. In doubles, he reached a career-best ranking of world No. 99 on 22 February 2016. He is commonly known by the nickname Bozo.

Professional career

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2006

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Bozoljac achieved his best ATP-level result at Zagreb, defeating world No. 170 Dudi Sela in the qualifying rounds. In the main draw, he secured victories over world No. 77 Daniele Bracciali and world No. 34 Feliciano López, before losing in the quarterfinals to world No. 81 Novak Djokovic.

2008

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In May, Bozoljac narrowly missed qualifying for the 2008 French Open, losing to no. 75 Eduardo Schwank in the qualifying round.

In June, Bozoljac entered the main draw of the 2008 Wimbledon Championships as a lucky loser. He had defeated Nick Monroe and Robert Smeets in qualifying but lost to Stefano Galvani in five sets.

2010

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

He was a reserve player on the Serbia Davis Cup team when they won the Davis Cup title.

2013

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Bozoljac began 2013 by returning to the ITF Men's circuit, taking three singles titles in the opening three months.[1]

In April, Ilija and his doubles partner Nenad Zimonjić 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 as "Bozo goes Beast Mode...there was Bozoljac playing out of his mind in a five-set win that left everyone shaking their heads".[2] Bozoljac was praised by the Bryan brothers and by U.S. team captain Jim Courier, 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."[3]

Style of play

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Bozoljac was known for his powerful serve, which could reach speeds of up to 245 km/h (152 mph), as well as his aggressive groundstrokes. His playing style was distinctive, often alternating between a double-handed forehand and a single-handed backhand. A back injury later forced him to moderate his serve, though he continued to exceed 200 km/h (120 mph) during his career.

Personal life

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Bozoljac was born on 2 August 1985, in Aleksandrovac, Serbia, Serbia, to Jelena and Miroljub Bozoljac. He started playing tennis in TK Partizan in Belgrade and turned pro in 2002. He has been 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

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Result No. Date Team competition Surface Partner/Team Opponents Score
Loss 1. Nov 2013 Davis Cup, Belgrade, Serbia Hard (i) Serbia Novak Djokovic
Serbia Dušan Lajović
Serbia Nenad Zimonjić 		Czech Republic Tomáš Berdych
Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek
Czech Republic Lukáš Rosol
Czech Republic Jan Hájek 		2–3

ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures finals

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Singles: 25 (13–12)

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Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (4–10)
ITF Futures (9–2)
Result No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1. 22 August 2005 Bukhara, Uzbekistan Hard Uzbekistan Denis Istomin 4–6, 7–6(7–2), 5–6 ret.
Loss 2. 10 July 2006 Poznań, Poland Clay Czech Republic Jan Hájek 4–6, 3–6
Win 3. 4 September 2006 Donetsk, Ukraine Clay Czech Republic Tomáš Cakl 6–4, 3–6, 7–5
Loss 4. 22 October 2007 Rimouski, Canada Carpet (i) United States Brendan Evans 7–6(7–3), 4–6, 4–6
Win 5. 8 September 2008 Ljubljana, Slovenia Clay Italy Giancarlo Petrazzuolo 6–4, 6–3
Win 6. 15 September 2008 Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina Clay Spain Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6–4, 6–4
Loss 7. 1 June 2009 Nottingham, Great Britain Grass United States Brendan Evans 7–6(7–4), 4–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss 8. 12 October 2009 Tiburon, California, United States Hard Japan Go Soeda 6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Loss 9. 9 November 2009 Knoxville, Tennessee, United States Hard (i) United States Taylor Dent 3–6, 6–7(6–8)
Loss 10. 15 February 2010 Belgrade, Serbia Carpet (i) Slovakia Karol Beck 5–7, 6–7(4–7)
Loss 11. 11 July 2011 Aptos, United States Hard Lithuania Laurynas Grigelis 2–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss 12. 29 September 2013 Fergana, Uzbekistan Hard Moldova Radu Albot 6–7(9–11), 7–6(7–3), 1–6
Win 13. 15 February 2014 Kolkata, India Hard Russia Evgeny Donskoy 6–1, 6–1
Loss 14. 20 July 2014 Recanati, Italy Hard Luxembourg Gilles Müller 1–6, 2–6

Doubles: 27 (17–10)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (15–7)
ITF Futures (2–3)
Result Date Tournament Category Surface Partner Opponents Score

Performance timelines

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles

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Current through the 2015 Banja Luka Challenger.

Tournament 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A Q2 2R A Q1 Q1 Q2 A A Q2 Q1 1–1
French Open A A A 2R Q1 Q3 1R Q2 Q1 A A Q1 A 1–2
Wimbledon A A A Q2 Q1 2R Q2 2R Q1 A A Q1 A 2–2
US Open A A A Q2 Q1 Q1 A Q3 Q3 A A Q1 A 0–0
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–1 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–5
National representation
Davis Cup Z2 A A PO PO A 1R Alt SF QF F 1R A 3–2
Win–loss 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 1–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 3–2
ATP Masters Series 1000
Indian Wells Masters A A A A Q1 A A A A A A A A 0–0
Monte-Carlo Masters A A A A Q2 A A A A A A A A 0–0
Madrid Open1 A A A Q2 A A A Q1 A A A A A 0–0
Canadian Open A A A A A A A Q1 A A A A A 0–0
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
Career statistics
Tournaments 0 0 1 2 5 1 1 4 1 0 3 0 0 18
Overall win–loss 1–0 0–0 1–1 3–3 2–5 1–1 1–1 1–4 1–1 0–0 0–3 0–1 0–0 11–20
Year-end ranking 834 567 207 136 182 141 183 149 227 485 237 207 852 35%

1 Held as Hamburg Masters (outdoor clay) until 2008, Madrid Masters (outdoor clay) 2009 – present.

Doubles

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Current through 2018 Wimbledon Championships.

Tournament 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0–0
French Open A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0–0
Wimbledon A A A A 1R A A 1R A A A A A A 2R 1R 1–4
US Open A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0–0
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–1 1–4
National representation
Davis Cup Z2 A A PO PO A 1R Alt SF QF F 1R A A A A 4–6
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–1 1–2 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–6
Career statistics
Tournaments 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 3 12
Overall win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–1 3–3 1–1 0–0 0–0 1–2 1–1 0–2 1–2 0–1 0–0 1–1 1–1 0–3 9–18
Year-end ranking 545 817 339 255 468 171 489 136 446 900 282 254 110 640 333 33%

References

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  1. ^ Harvey, Luke (13 March 2013). "Bozoljac wins in Lille". ITF Pro Circuit. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  2. ^ Nguyen, Courtney (April 18, 2013). "23 highlights from the 2013 season". SI.com. Archived from the original on December 27, 2013.
  3. ^ Cripe, Chadd (April 7, 2013). "Advantage Serbia: Unlikely doubles pair outlasts Americans Bob and Mike Bryan in five-set thriller". Idaho Statesman.
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