HE was one of the most loved Wimbledon champions ever.
Never a stranger to adversity, he reached the final while his homeland was ravaged by war.
EPAThis is the former Wimbledon champion who briefly fulfilled his dream of becoming a professional footballer[/caption]
ReutersHe would train with his favourite club in order to get fit when he was out of tennis action[/caption]
And after a year in which he hadn’t even got past the first round of a Grand Slam, he turned up to the All-England Club and won the tournament as a wildcard.
So after years of battling against the odds and not taking no for an answer, it was perhaps not surprising that Goran Ivanisevic decided to follow his dream of becoming a professional footballer.
In 2001, the Croatian stood in the away end with six thousand fans as he watched his team win the league for the first time in six years.
And he said: “God, it would be great if I won Wimbledon and made something like this happen for me.”
Six weeks later, he did exactly that with an epic five-set victory over favourite Pat Rafter.
150,000 people would come out to celebrate his title, in a city with a population of 300,000.
Weeks later, Ivanisevic would be given a short-term contract at his boyhood club, Hajduk Split.
He said after signing: “I had two dreams in my life. One was to win Wimbledon. The other was to play once for Hajduk Split.”
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And the manager at the time, Nenad Gracan, commented: “His ability is close to professional level.
“I’ve asked him to come to training and promised to put him in the team against Dinamo.”
At one point, it was even suggested that he could play in Hajduk’s Champions League qualifier against Ferencvaros.
Ivanisevic said upon signing: “The game against Ferencvaros is important for the club and it depends on the result whether I can play or not.
“I would like to play in the Croatian league. The derby at home to Dinamo seems nice. Three minutes would satisfy me.”
Ultimately, he would never play against Dinamo, but he would play with the Croatia national team at Dinamo’s Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb.
That would happen when he took on the World XI with Croatia’s 1998 World Cup semi-final team in Zvonimir Boban’s retirement match.
Ivanisevic would get on the scoresheet as the Croats were beaten 2-1 in the 2002 fixture.
Goran Ivanisevic shocked the world by winning Wimbledon as a wildcard in 2001Times Newspapers Ltd
AFPThe star supporting the Croatia football team in 2001[/caption]
Matthew AshtonGoran Ivanisevic would later become a big West Brom fan[/caption]
And he’s a huge fan of English football as well, where he has adopted West Bromwich Albion as his team.
That came about due to his close friendship with tennis journalist and lifelong Baggies fan David Law.
Though he wouldn’t be Croatia’s first West Brom fan, with famous BBC presenter Adrian Chiles being half-Croatian.
In 2011, he saw his first ever West Brom game – a 1-1 draw at QPR.
And afterwards he was invited into the dressing room by manager Roy Hodgson.
Ivanisevic said of the day: “It was fantastic to see us score. I was so happy and jumped up in the directors’ box.
“Afterwards I was invited into the dressing room by Roy Hodgson [the manager at the time].
“Now I want to see a home match at The Hawthorns.
“I like how West Brom fans celebrate goals — to ‘Boing’.
“Every week I receive score updates. It has been a good season for us so far, so I am doing a lot of Boinging!”
But his current job as a tennis coach has left him with far more cause for celebration than the Baggies could.
That’s because he is working with legend Novak Djokovic, who holds a joint-record 22 Grand Slams with Rafael Nadal, with yet more titles expected to come.
Ivanisevic would later introduce John McEnroe to his beloved BaggiesGetty Images – Getty
GettyThe Croat proudly wearing his West Brom shirt outside the Royal Albert Hall[/caption]
EPAIvanisevic (left) in 2001 with Zvonimir Boban, whose testimonial he scored in[/caption]
EPAIvanisevic (left) now coaches Novak Djokovic[/caption] Read More