Ilija Bozoljac

Ilija Bozoljac (Serbian Cyrillic: Илија Бозољац, pronounced [ǐlija boˈzǒːʎats]; born 2 August 1985) is a Serbian professional tennis player and coach.

Ilija Bozoljac
Country (sports) FR Yugoslavia (2002–2003)
 Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2006)
 Serbia (2006–present)
ResidenceBelgrade, Serbia
Born (1985-08-02) 2 August 1985
Aleksandrovac, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Turned pro2002
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed both sides, occasionally one-handed forehand)
Prize money$742,198
Singles
Career record11–20 (35.5% in Grand Slam and ATP World Tour main draw matches, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
4 Challengers, 9 Futures
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 (33.3%)
Career titles0
15 Challengers, 2 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 99 (22 February 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Wimbledon2R (2017)
Team competitions
Davis CupF (2013)
Last updated on: 29 October 2018.

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 245 km/h (152 mph), along with powerful groundstrokes.

He is a coach of Bosnian-Herzegovian tennis player Damir Džumhur. 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, beating no. 170 Dudi Sela to qualify, and then beating no. 77 Daniele Bracciali and no. 34 Feliciano López, before losing to no. 81 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

2008

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

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

2013

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

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, Serbia, 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
Outcome No. Date Team competition Surface Partner/Team Opponents Score
Runner-up 1. November 15–17, 2013 Davis Cup, Belgrade, Serbia Hard (i) Novak Djokovic
Dušan Lajović
Nenad Zimonjić		 Tomáš Berdych
Radek Štěpánek
Lukáš Rosol
Jan Hájek		 2–3

ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 25 (13–12)
Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (4–10)
ITF Futures (9–2)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. 22 August 2005 Bukhara, Uzbekistan Hard Denis Istomin 4–6, 7–6(7–2), 5–6 ret.
Runner-up 2. 10 July 2006 Poznań, Poland Clay Jan Hájek 4–6, 3–6
Winner 3. 4 September 2006 Donetsk, Ukraine Clay Tomáš Cakl 6–4, 3–6, 7–5
Runner-up 4. 22 October 2007 Rimouski, Canada Carpet (i) Brendan Evans 7–6(7–3), 4–6, 4–6
Winner 5. 8 September 2008 Ljubljana, Slovenia Clay Giancarlo Petrazzuolo 6–4, 6–3
Winner 6. 15 September 2008 Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina Clay Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6–4, 6–4
Runner-up 7. 1 June 2009 Nottingham, Great Britain Grass Brendan Evans 7–6(7–4), 4–6, 6–7(4–7)
Runner-up 8. 12 October 2009 Tiburon, California, United States Hard Go Soeda 6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Runner-up 9. 9 November 2009 Knoxville, Tennessee, United States Hard (i) Taylor Dent 3–6, 6–7(6–8)
Runner-up 10. 15 February 2010 Belgrade, Serbia Carpet (i) Karol Beck 5–7, 6–7(4–7)
Runner-up 11. July 11, 2011 Aptos, United States Hard Laurynas Grigelis 2–6, 6–7(4–7)
Runner-up 12. September 29, 2013 Fergana, Uzbekistan Hard Radu Albot 6–7(9–11), 7–6(7–3), 1–6
Winner 13. February 15, 2014 Kolkata, India Hard Evgeny Donskoy 6–1, 6–1
Runner-up 14. July 20, 2014 Recanati, Italy Hard Gilles Müller 1–6, 2–6

Doubles: 27 (17–10)
Legend
ATP Challenger (15–7)
ITF Futures (2–3)
Result Date Tournament Category Surface Partner Opponents Score

Performance timeline

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

Current through the 2015 Banja Luka Challenger.

Tournament2003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015W–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

Current through 2018 Wimbledon Championships.

Tournament2003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018W–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 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 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%
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References
  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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