Ana Ivanovic

Ana Ivanovic (born 6 November 1987) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 12 weeks. Ivanovic won 15 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including a major at the 2008 French Open. She was also the runner-up at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open. Ivanovic qualified for the year-end WTA Finals three times, and won the year-end WTA Tournament of Champions twice, in 2010 and 2011.

Ivanovic made her WTA Tour debut in 2004. By the age of 18, she had already defeated established players such as Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva and Amélie Mauresmo. At age 20, she achieved her career highlight by winning the 2008 French Open—becoming world No. 1 in the process. After her triumph, she struggled to maintain her newfound success, not reaching the quarterfinals of a major in her subsequent 17 appearances, and dropping as low as No. 65 in the rankings in July 2010. In 2012, Ivanovic resurged by reaching the US Open quarterfinals, and finishing the year inside the top 15. In 2014, she returned to the top of the game—winning four titles, qualifying for the WTA Finals, and was the year-end world No. 5. She continued this success in 2015 by reaching her first major semifinal in seven years at the French Open. In December 2016, Ivanovic announced her retirement from the sport.

Ivanovic was known for her aggressive style of play and impressive forehand, which was described by Nadia Petrova as "the best out there." She earned over $15.5 million in prize money. In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time and was also included on the list of "Top 100 Greatest Players Ever" (male and female combined) by reporter Matthew Cronin.

Ivanovic (Ана Ивановић / Ana Ivanović, pronounced [âna ǐʋanoʋitɕ, ǎː-] ) was born in Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia. Her mother, Dragana, a lawyer, has been court-side during most of her matches. Her father Miroslav, a self-employed businessman, attended as many events as he possibly could. Ivanovic has a younger brother, Miloš, with whom she loved to play basketball.

Ivanovic began playing tennis at the age of five after watching Monica Seles, a fellow Yugoslav, on television. She started her career after memorizing the telephone number of a local tennis clinic from an advertisement. During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, she was forced to train during the morning to avoid bombardments. She trained in an abandoned swimming pool in the winter, as no tennis facilities were available. At 13 she moved to Basel, Switzerland due to the better training facilities and coaching available. Manager Dan Holzmann was living in Basel, and Ana and her mother moved to Switzerland when she signed an agreement with the Swiss entrepreneur.

When she was 15, Ivanovic spent four hours in a locker room crying after a defeat – the first that her new manager had witnessed. She thought that Dan Holzmann would abandon her, thinking she wouldn't be good enough to become a professional tennis player. However, he remained her manager throughout her career.

Ivanovic reached the final of the Junior Wimbledon tournament, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko. In 2004, she went 26–0 on the ITF Women's Circuit, and won all five events that she entered, two of them as a qualifier. As a qualifier in Zurich, she overcame a 5–1 third-set deficit along with two match points to defeat world No. 29 Tatiana Golovin. She then debuted in the qualifying draw of a major at the US Open, where she was defeated by Lioudmila Skavronskaia after winning the first set 6–1 and having two match points in the third set. Her first notable breakthrough occurred in the next tournament, when she took Venus Williams to two tiebreaks, before losing in straight sets in the second round of the Zurich Open. She had held several set points in both sets. She followed up her run in Zurich with a quarterfinal showing at Luxembourg the next week.

As a qualifier, Ivanovic won her first career singles title early in the year at the Canberra International, after defeating Melinda Czink in the final. Her ranking continued to rise after wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova in Miami, Nadia Petrova also in Miami, and Vera Zvonareva in Warsaw, all of whom were top-10 players. Ivanovic lost to Amélie Mauresmo at the Australian Open in the third round, at Doha in the third round after holding a 6–2, 2–0 lead, and at the Miami Masters in the quarterfinals. However, Ivanovic's biggest win to date then came over Mauresmo in the third round of the French Open. She advanced to the quarterfinals of only her second Grand Slam tournament by defeating Francesca Schiavone in the fourth round. Later in the year, Ivanovic reached the semifinals of the Zurich Open and Generali Ladies Linz, losing to Patty Schnyder in both tournaments. She finished the year ranked No. 16.

Ivanovic started the season at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Western Australia with fellow Serbian Novak Djokovic, where the pair narrowly missed the final. To start off her WTA year, she played at the Medibank International in Sydney where she once again defeated Amélie Mauresmo, this time in straight sets, before falling to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals. A week later, she lost to Samantha Stosur in the second round of the Australian Open.

Ivanovic made it to the third round of the French Open, before losing to Anastasia Myskina. She progressed to the fourth round at Wimbledon, but lost to eventual champion and world No. 1, Amélie Mauresmo, in straight sets after beating No. 14 seed, Dinara Safina.

Ivanovic made her breakthrough in August by defeating a formerly ranked No. 1, Martina Hingis, in the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal adter beating Jelena Janković, No. 14 seed Katarina Srebotnik and top-10 player Dinara Safina en route to the championship match. This ultimately led to her winning the United States Open Series, ahead of Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova. At the US Open, she lost to Serena Williams.

Ivanovic also played nine tournaments in doubles in 2006, teaming up with Maria Kirilenko and Sania Mirza. Ivanovic and Kirilenko made two semifinals and a final; they ended the year at No. 17 in the annual race to the Championships. Ivanovic finished the year ranked world No. 14 in singles and No. 51 in doubles.

Ivanovic started the season in Gold Coast and Sydney where she reached quarterfinals. Seeded 13th at the Australian Open, Ivanovic defeated Agnieszka Radwańska in the second round, but lost in the third round to Vera Zvonareva. Immediately after this tournament, she announced that she had split with her coach David Taylor. She then played in the Toray Pan Pacific Open. In the quarterfinals she beat No. 10 Janković, and in the semifinals the No. 1, when Maria Sharapova was forced to retire after Ivanovic had won the first set; but she lost in the final to Martina Hingis.

During the American hard-court season, Ivanovic lost in early rounds. But on clay, she first went on to semifinal of Amelia Island and then managed to win her first Tier-I clay-court title in Berlin, defeating No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final in three sets. Ivanovic needed a tiebreak to finally finish the match. The win in Berlin propelled her into the top ten of the WTA rankings for the first time, at world No. 8.

Ivanovic had a six-match winning streak heading into the French Open and increased this streak to twelve by reaching the final. She won her first three matches with the loss of only nine games. In her second career quarterfinal at the French Open, Ivanovic defeated world No. 3 Kuznetsova, and she then beat world No. 2, Sharapova, in less than one hour in the semifinals. In the final, Ivanovic attempted to win her first major singles title and complete a sweep of the top three players in the world. However, world No. 1 and two-time defending champion Justine Henin won the match in straight sets.

At Wimbledon, Ivanovic defeated world No. 9 Nadia Petrova in the fourth round, and saved three match points to defeat Nicole Vaidišová in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, three-time former Wimbledon champion Venus Williams defeated Ivanovic in two sets after Ivanovic had a break in the second set.

A persistent knee injury sustained at Wimbledon caused Ivanovic to withdraw from Serbian Fed Cup competition against Slovakia and two lead-up events to the US Open. She returned to the tour at the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California, saving two match points in the semifinals with huge winner before defeating No. 3 Janković in three sets. In the final, Ivanovic defeated top-10 player Petrova to win the fourth singles title of her career, which raised her ranking to a career-high of world No. 4.

Ivanovic started the year at the Medibank International, where she made the quarterfinals, eventually losing to world No. 1, Justine Henin, despite having had break points in the third set. As the fourth seed at the Australian Open, Ivanovic made it all the way to the finals, beating top-10 players Venus Williams for the first time in her career, and coming back from a 0–6, 0–2 deficit against Daniela Hantuchová. She was given the nickname "Aussie Ana" during the on-court interview with Todd Woodbridge following the victory over Williams. Ivanovic fell against Sharapova in a tight match in the final where Ivanovic had 0–30 at 5–4 in first set. Her ranking rose to world No. 3, the highest of her career at the time.

In Serbia's Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I D round-robin tie against Poland, Romania and Netherlands Ivanovic won all of her matches, as Serbia advanced to the World Group II playoffs in April. And soon Serbia qualified for World Group II, after beating neighboring country Croatia.

In March, Ivanovic defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final of the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells after wins over top-15 players Francesca Schiavone, Vera Zvonareva, and world No. 4 Jelena Janković, in the semifinals. She lost to Lindsay Davenport in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami the following week in straight sets.

Ivanovic started her clay-court season as defending champion at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin where she lost to Elena Dementieva for the fourth time in four meetings in the semifinals. In Rome she lost to qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova, but it couldn't demoralize Ivanovic, as she defeated Petra Cetkovská 6–0, 6–0 in the fourth round, No. 10 Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals, and No. 3 Jelena Janković in a thrilling encounter in the semifinals of French Open. She went on to defeat Dinara Safina in straight sets in the final, winning her first and only major singles title.

At Wimbledon, Ivanovic saved match points against Nathalie Dechy, but fell against unseeded wildcard Zheng Jie of China in straight sets in the third round.

At the Australian Open, Ivanovic was seeded fifth and won her first two matches in straight sets before losing to 29th seed Russian Alisa Kleybanova in the third round.

Ivanovic took part in Serbia's Fed Cup win in the World Group II tie against Japan. She defeated Ai Sugiyama and Ayumi Morita to help Serbia to a 4–1 win. At the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Premier-5 event, she lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. Around this time, Ivanovic began working with her new coach Craig Kardon, after parting with former coach Sven Groeneveld.

At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where she was defending champion, Ivanovic advanced to the finals, before losing to Vera Zvonareva. In Miami, Ivanovic lost in the third round to Ágnes Szávay. In April, she took part in Serbia's Fed Cup World Group play-offs against Spain. She defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues to help Serbia gain promotion to the World Group with a 4–0 win.

At the French Open, Ivanovic won her first three matches in straight sets, before losing to Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round. This early loss caused Ivanovic to fall out of the top ten for the first time since May 2007. After the loss, Ivanovic announced that she would cease working with Craig Kardon, and would be participating in the adidas Player Development Program, where she would be coached by Sven Groeneveld, Darren Cahill, Mats Merkel and Gil Reyes.

At Wimbledon, Ivanovic was seeded 13th. She faced two match points against Lucie Hradecká, before prevailing. She then took down Sara Errani and 18th seed Samantha Stosur in the second and third rounds in straight sets, before retiring against eventual finalist Venus Williams.

Ivanovic started the year in Brisbane. Seeded third, Ivanovic reached her first semifinal since Indian Wells in 2009. She eventually bowed out to wildcard Justine Henin in Henin's first tournament since her return from retirement. Ivanovic was seeded 20th at the Australian Open, but lost to Gisela Dulko in the second round in three sets. She then participated in the opening round of the Fed Cup in Serbia's tie against Russia, and she went 0–2 in her singles matches and also lost her doubles match.

Ivanovic announced that she would be working with Steffi Graf's former coach Heinz Günthardt on a trial basis during the spring North American hard-court season, suspending her relationship with the Adidas Player Development Program indefinitely. In her first match as Gunthardt's pupil, a one-set semifinal against reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters in the 2010 Billie Jean King Cup at Madison Square Garden, Ivanovic lost in a tiebreak, despite having held match point.

Despite her improvements, Ivanovic lost her opening match in Indian Wells, suffering four consecutive losses for the first time. By also losing a huge number of ranking points, Ivanovic dropped out of the top 50 for the first time since March 2005. Seeded 25th in Miami, Ivanovic won her first match since the Australian Open, but then lost to Radwańska in the third round.

Ivanovic lost again to Radwańska at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. But unseeded in Rome, Ivanovic had her best week of tennis in nearly two years. She stunned top-10 players Victoria Azarenka and Elena Dementieva, and top-20 player Nadia Petrova, all in straight sets, before losing to eventual champion María José Martínez Sánchez in the semifinals. She was granted a wildcard into the Madrid Open, and received a bye in the first round due to her semifinal appearance at the Italian Open. She was the first unseeded wildcard to receive a first-round bye in the history of the WTA Tour. She lost in the second round to Jelena Janković, despite leading by a set and a break. Ivanovic entered the French Open unseeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2005. She fell to Alisa Kleybanova in the second round.

In the UNICEF Open, Ivanovic fell to seventh-seeded German Andrea Petkovic in the second round. Ivanovic was defeated in the first round of Wimbledon by 13th seed Shahar Pe'er, and as a consequence saw her ranking drop to world No. 64.

Ivanovic started the year with the Hopman Cup in Perth, Western Australia. She competed along with Novak Djokovic and they qualified for the final, but due to an injury sustained during Ivanovic's match against Justine Henin, Serbia was forced to withdraw. Along with the Hopman Cup, Ivanovic also withdrew from Sydney. Seeded 19th at the Australian Open she lost to Ekaterina Makarova in the first round.

Ivanovic then played in the PTT Pattaya Open, where she fell in the quarterfinals to 5th seed Roberta Vinci in straight sets. In Dubai she lost against Patty Schnyder in their last professional match for many years. She stated the loss was in part because of the abdominal injury sustained in the beginning of the season, and she subsequently withdrew from Doha.

In fourth round of Indian Wells Ivanovic beat Jelena Janković, but lost to Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals. She then played in Miami and lost against defending champion Kim Clijsters in fourth round, despite having a 5–1, 40–0 lead in the third set and having five match points.

Ivanovic joined Serbia in the 2011 Fed Cup event. Ivanovic scored a point for Serbia by beating Daniela Hantuchová in straight sets but had to retire in her next match against Dominika Cibulková, as she renewed an injury from the beginning of the season. Despite that, Serbia beat Slovakia in the deciding doubles rubber, 3–2.

Ivanovic lost to Bethanie Mattek-Sands in first round of Madrid, after winning the first set 6-0. Ivanovic headed to Rome and won her first round match against Nadia Petrova, who retired. Ivanovic lost in the next round to Yanina Wickmayer in three sets. In the first round at the French Open, Ivanovic again lost after winning the first set 6-0, to Johanna Larsson. Ivanovic had a slight resurgence in Birmingham, reaching the semifinals, but lost to Hantuchová in three sets. Ivanovic lost to Venus Williams in the second round at Eastbourne.

Ivanovic began her season in Brisbane where she was defeated in the second round by fifth seed Kim Clijsters in three sets, despite leading 3–0 in the final set. Ivanovic's next event was in Sydney and she was sent out in the first round by Lucie Šafářová in straight sets. Ivanovic then headed over to the Australian Open where she reached the fourth round as a 21st seed, before losing to world No. 2, Petra Kvitová, in two sets. She entered the top 20 of the world rankings after her run to the round of 16.

Ivanovic next played in Doha. She fell to Petra Cetkovská in straight sets in the second round. Ivanovic then went to Dubai unseeded, where she upset Francesca Schiavone and beat Maria Kirilenko, before being defeated by 3rd seed Caroline Wozniacki. Ivanovic went over to Indian Wells as the 15th seed. She was able to make a run all the way to the semifinals, posting victories over former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and Marion Bartoli, who were both in the top 8. She retired against Maria Sharapova after losing the first set. In Miami she beat Daniela Hantuchová before losing to Venus Williams in fourth round, despite holding a one set lead. Despite this defeat she still moved into the top 15 for the first time since 2009.

Ivanovic then headed to Moscow for the Fed Cup semifinals, where after losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in three tight sets, recovered, and beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to put Serbia ahead, 2–1. Fellow countrywoman Jelena Janković then closed out the tie for Serbia (3–2), sending the country into the Fed Cup finals for the first time in history.

Ivanovic resumed tour action in Stuttgart, where she was beaten by Mona Barthel in two tight sets. She then headed over to the newly blue-clayed Madrid where she breezed past Mathilde Johansson and Nadia Petrova, before falling in straight sets to world No. 1 Azarenka, despite leading 4–1 in the first set. In Rome she avenged her Fed Cup loss against Kuznetsova, but fell to No. 2 Sharapova in straight sets, despite serving for the first set. Seeded 13th at the French Open, Ivanovic beat Lara Arruabarrena Vecino and Shahar Pe'er, losing only six games over the course of the two matches. Despite continuing in style and winning the first of the match, she lost to eventual finalist Sara Errani in the third round.

Seeded 14th at Wimbledon, she worked for victories over María José Martínez Sánchez, Kateryna Bondarenko and 22nd seed Julia Görges to reach fourth round, her best result there since 2009. She then suffered a bad loss to 2nd seed Azarenka in the fourth round; winning only one game. Despite the loss, her run caused her ranking to rise to No. 12 in the following week.

Ivanovic kicked off the year by playing at the Hopman Cup with Djokovic. In her first round-robin match, she beat Italy's Francesca Schiavone. She beat Ashleigh Barty and in her final round-robin match defeated Tatjana Malek to put Serbia into the final, having defeated Italy, Australia and Germany. While playing Spain, Djokovic gave Serbia a 1–0 tie lead but Anabel Medina Garrigues tied up the final at 1–1 after defeating Ivanovic in a closely fought singles match. Serbia then lost the deciding tie in mixed doubles.

At the Australian Open, she successfully reached the fourth round of the tournament, progressing past Melinda Czink, Yung-Jan Chen and Jelena Janković. She eventually lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in two sets. Ivanovic played in Pattaya City as the No. 1 seed but lost in the first round to Ayumi Morita. Ivanovic was then scheduled to play at the Fed Cup but withdrew due to shoulder injuries. Ivanovic competed at the Qatar Total Open as the 12th seed. She made a run to the third round, but lost to Agnieszka Radwańska, despite breaking her in the 12th game and having the chance to serve out for the second set. She reached the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships, before losing narrowly to Petra Kvitová.

Ivanovic received a first round bye at the BNP Paribas Open. In her second round match, she defeated American teenager Taylor Townsend losing just three games. In the third round, she lost in three sets to big-serving Mona Barthel from Germany. At the subsequent Premier Mandatory event Sony Open Tennis, Ivanovic exacted revenge on Urszula Radwańska by dishing out a two set drubbing and cruised past two-time grand slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. However, Ivanovic lost to eighth seeded Errani in three sets in the fourth round. Ivanovic then took part in the Monterrey Open and was defeated in the second round by defending champion Tímea Babos from Hungary.

Despite a slow start to the 2013 season, Ivanovic made good progress in the clay season. Notably, she defeated upcoming players Mona Barthel (who she lost to at Indian Wells) and Laura Robson, as well as higher-seeded players Nadia Petrova at Stuttgart and Angelique Kerber twice at the Fed Cup week two playoffs and at the Mutua Madrid Open. As a result of Ivanovic's more consistent tennis in the clay season, she reached the quarterfinals in Stuttgart despite not being seeded, and managed to reach the semifinals of the Premier Mandatory Madrid Open for the first time in her career. In both Stuttgart and Madrid, her runs were routed by 2012 French Open champion Maria Sharapova. Unfortunately, after good runs at two clay-court tournaments, she dropped her opener in Rome against Urszula Radwańska. At the French Open she stormed past three opponents to the fourth round, only to fall in straight sets to Agnieszka Radwańska.

At Wimbledon, she won her first round match-up against Virginie Razzano, but in the second round Ivanovic would be knocked out of the tournament by Eugenie Bouchard.

Ivanovic started the 2014 season by winning the title in Auckland, defeating Venus Williams in the final in three sets, for her 12th title and her first since November 2011. At the Australian Open, she defeated No. 1 ranked Serena Williams in the fourth round for her first win over Williams, after battling past Samantha Stosur in three sets. She lost to 30th seed Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in the quarterfinals in three sets. On set point for Bouchard, Ivanovic double-faulted.

At the next four tournaments of the Asian and American series, Ivanovic failed to make the quarterfinals at all of them. She beat top players such as Angelique Kerber (saving match point) in Dubai and Flavia Pennetta in Miami. But there were some big outages like a double bagel against Petra Kvitová after Ivanovic won the first set. In Monterrey, Ivanovic was the second seed and went on to win her second title of the year, by defeating third seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals and Jovana Jakšić in the WTA's first-ever all-Serbian final.

Representing Serbia in Fed Cup against Romania, Ivanovic lost against Sorana Cîrstea, but beat world No. 5 Simona Halep in straight sets. Serbia would go on to lose the tie 1–4.

Ivanovic then participated in Stuttgart where she made it all the way to the final, achieving back-to-back finals for the first time in her career. It was also the first time in five years, since the 2009 BNP Paribas Open, that Ivanovic had reached a Premier level final. En route she achieved other career milestones, defeating Julia Görges for her 400th career win and world No. 6, Jelena Janković, for her 40th career top-10 win. She eventually lost to two-time defending champion Maria Sharapova in the final in three sets.

In Madrid, Ivanovic won her first three matches in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals, losing to Simona Halep in just one hour. Ivanovic avenged her loss against Sharapova in Stuttgart by defeating her in their round of the Italian Open in straight sets. By doing so, she became the only person to defeat Sharapova on clay that year. The win was significant most of all because she became the first player other than Serena Williams to defeat Sharapova on clay since 2011, and ended her winning streak in Rome (Sharapova was 47–3 on the surface and was undefeated in Rome since 2011). Against Serena Williams, in her second appearance in the Rome semifinals, she lost in three sets.

Ivanovic began her 2015 season reaching final of the Brisbane International. She lost one set against Kaia Kanepi en route. By beating Varvara Lepchenko, Ivanovic set up a final clash against Maria Sharapova, which she lost despite taking the first set in a tiebreak. Ivanovic entered the Australian Open as the fifth seed, but lost in the opening round in three sets to qualifier Lucie Hradecká, losing for the third time to a Czech player in her last four major appearances. She later revealed that she was struggling with a toe injury during the match. At her next tournament in Dubai, she lost just three games against Sabine Lisicki in the second round, but struggles continued as she lost to Karolína Plíšková in three sets.

Ivanovic was the defending champion in Monterrey, but she lost Caroline Garcia in the semifinals. At Indian Wells, she lost two more times to Garcia in both doubles and singles. In Miami Ivanovic beat Irina Falconi in the second round in three sets before losing in the third round to Sabine Lisicki in straight sets.

Ivanovic started her clay-court season with a third straight loss to Garcia in Stuttgart. Prior to the Madrid Open, Ivanovic parted ways with coach Dejan Petrovic. She lost in the third round to Carla Suárez Navarro in three sets. She then played in the Italian Open and lost in the second round to qualifier and eventual semifinalist, Daria Gavrilova, in three sets after failing to serve out the match in the third set. Ivanovic entered the French Open as the seventh seed. In the first and second rounds, she came back from a set down to beat Yaroslava Shvedova and Misaki Doi, and with her third-round victory over Donna Vekić, Ivanovic reached 100 wins at Grand Slam events. In the fourth round, she beat Ekaterina Makarova in three sets. In the quarterfinals, she beat Elina Svitolina in straight sets to advance to the semifinals of a major for the first time since she won the title in Paris back in 2008. She lost to Lucie Šafářová in two tight sets despite being up 5–2 in the first set.

Ivanovic started her grass-court season at the Birmingham Classic as the defending champion. She failed to defend her title, losing in the second round to Michelle Larcher de Brito in three sets despite serving for the match in the third set. Ivanovic entered Wimbledon as the seventh seed. She easily beat Xu Yifan in the first round in straight sets but then lost in the second round to Bethanie Mattek-Sands in straight sets.

In late July, she went back to working with former coach, Nigel Sears. Ivanovic began her summer hard-court season at the Rogers Cup where she was seeded fifth. She beat qualifiers Olga Govortsova and Polona Hercog to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006. She lost to eventual champion, Belinda Bencic in straight sets. Ivanovic then played at the Western & Southern Open where she was defending finalist points. After receiving a walkover in the second round from Venus Williams, she beat Sloane Stephens in three sets to set up a rematch of last year's final against Serena Williams in the quarterfinals which she lost in three sets despite being up a set and a break in both the second and third sets. Ivanovic next played at the US Open as the seventh seed. She lost in the first round to Dominika Cibulková in three sets.

At the Auckland Open Ivanovic was seeded second but lost in the first round to British qualifier Naomi Broady in straight sets. Ivanovic took a wildcard into the Apia International Sydney and lost in the first round to Karolína Plíšková in straight sets. During the Australian Open, she beat Tammi Patterson and Anastasija Sevastova, both in straight sets to advance to the third round. Ivanovic lost to Madison Keys in three sets despite being up a set and a break in both the second and third sets. During the match Ivanovic's coach, Nigel Sears collapsed and was taken to a hospital where it was later confirmed that he was conscious.

Ivanovic's next tournament was the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy where she made it through to the semifinals. She beat Margarita Gasparyan & Kateryna Kozlova before losing to Roberta Vinci in straight sets. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, after defeating Daria Gavrilova and world No. 3, Simona Halep, Ivanovic lost to Barbora Strýcová. At Indian Wells she beat Camila Giorgi but then lost to Karolína Plíšková in round 3. In Miami she lost to Timea Bacsinszky. In Stuttgart she won her first-round match but then lost in the second round to Karolína Plíšková.

In the first round of the Madrid Open, Ivanovic beat qualifier Kateřina Siniaková in three sets, however, she lost to another qualifier Louisa Chirico in the second round. At the Italian Open, she beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round, but lost to Christina McHale in the second round. Ivanovic had a tough first-round match win at the French Open after she beat Océane Dodin in three sets. She defeated Kurumi Nara in the second round, but lost to Elina Svitolina in the third round. Ivanovic only won 15 matches in 2016 with the last coming in June. She played her career's last professional match in the first round of the US Open against Denisa Allertova and lost in straight sets. On 28 December, having been absent with injury since August, Ivanovic announced her retirement stating that she was no longer able to play to her high standards and win big tournaments, meaning it was time to move on from professional tennis and start a new chapter in her life.

At the 2017 French Open, a ceremony was held on Court Philippe Chatrier to honour Ivanovic.

Ivanovic endorsed Nike apparel and shoes at the beginning of her professional career, but at the beginning of 2006 switched to rival Adidas and has her own signature line. Ivanovic then signed a lifetime contract with the company. Ivanovic became an Ambassador for Adidas once she retired from competitive tennis. She is believed to be the youngest athlete, male or female, to sign a contract of such longevity.

She started with Wilson racquets, eventually using the nCode nBlade painted H22. From the beginning of 2008 to the end of her career, Ivanovic used Yonex racquets. She won the 2008 French Open using the Yonex RQiS 1 Tour 95 before switching to the Yonex RQiS 1 Tour XL 95 in 2009. She began using a prototype version of a new Yonex racquet at the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open in Cincinnati. Ivanovic then started endorsing Yonex's EZONE line beginning with the EZONE 100. She then switched to the Yonex EZONE XI 98 in 2012, then played with the Yonex EZONE AI 98 in 2014, and finished her career with the Yonex EZONE DR 98.

In 2008, Ivanovic signed an endorsement deal with Rolex.

Ivanovic was an offensive baseliner with an aggressive style of play. After winning the 2008 French Open and becoming No. 1, Ivanovic endured a decline in form. Many critics attributed this to lack of confidence. At the 2010 Australian Open, Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova commented that, "while she has absolutely no confidence in herself, she still fights till the last point." She made some improvements to her playing style after appointing a new coach in 2010. As a result, she started to play with more confidence and won matches more consistently.

She hit a 124.9 mph (201.0 km/h) serve at the French Open in 2007, the fifth fastest serve of all time on the WTA Tour. However, from 2009 to 2012, her service game was largely viewed as a liability instead of a weapon. This was because of her inconsistent ball tosses which were directly associated with her diminishing confidence. Nonetheless, in 2013, under the tutelage of Nigel Sears, her ball tosses became more consistent, allowing her to build her game on her powerful first serves.

Ivanovic's flat and powerful forehand was her bread-and-butter shot that, in 2007–08, propelled her to the top of the rankings. However, her backhand was a much weaker wing and was often targeted by players acquainted with Ivanovic's playing style. Her cross-court backhand generally lacked the depth required to throw her opponents off course.

While Ivanovic's movement and net play were once considered to be her weaknesses, they both improved over the years. Towards the end of her career she was considered faster than when she started playing professional tennis.

Ivanovic's best surface was clay, where her height allowed her to strike clean winners off high-bouncing balls. In addition, her weakness in movement was mitigated on slower clay courts. Nonetheless, she was capable of performing well on hard and grass courts as well. When she launched her re-branded site during 2010, she stated in her bio that she likes all surfaces.

Ivanovic and her fellow Serbian Jelena Janković have encountered each other 12 times with Ivanovic having the advantage 9 to 3 in match wins (including a walkover). The pair played their first match against each other in an abandoned swimming pool used as a tennis court in Belgrade. A 9-year-old Janković won the match, beating the 7-year-old Ivanovic 7–1. When asked why Ivanovic has posed such a problem for herself, Janković remarked that she struggles to read Ivanovic's game mostly due to the fact Ivanovic likes to play short points. Ivanovic leads 2–1 on clay, 6–2 on hard courts and 1–0 on carpet courts.

The longest match contested between the two in the semi-finals at the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. In a match lasting two and a half hours, Ivanovic recovered from a 4–1 third set deficit, saving two match points en route, to defeat Janković on her way to the title. The most significant match between the pair took place in the semi-finals of the French Open, with the winner having assured of becoming world No. 1 and with both women bidding to win their first Grand Slam title. Ivanovic won the match, recovering from a 3–1 final set deficit to defeat Jankovic for the fifth consecutive time. Jankovic's win at the 2008 WTA Tour Championships in Doha later that year snapped a 5 match losing streak against her compatriot.

The relationship between the pair has been strained. Both have openly admitted in the past to not liking each other and have been involved in a number of high-profile spats on and off court. Ivanovic was criticized both by Janković and her mother after Ivanovic decided to withdraw from Serbia's Fed Cup World Group play-off tie against Slovakia, citing her poor form in 2010 which left Janković the only high-profile player to play the tie which Serbia lost 3–2. During the same weekend, Ivanovic was photographed having coffee with her boyfriend Adam Scott at the island resort of Palma, Majorca after which Snezana Janković denounced Ivanovic in the Serbian press. Another high-profile controversy was after the pair's first meeting in two years in the second round of the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open in Madrid where the match was marred however by an incident in which off court cameras appeared to catch Janković mocking Ivanovic's trademark fistpumps towards her mother and camp after the match. Janković admitted she found Ivanovic's fistpumps "irritating" but that it was not meant to be offensive and was in the heat of the moment. After their match in Indian Wells in 2011 however, Ivanovic stated she felt there were no real issues with Janković and both agreed that they have both put the past behind them, an opinion echoed again by Janković after their Australian Open encounter in 2013.

Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova have met 14 times since 2005, Ivanovic leading the head-to-head 11–3 overall. Ivanovic leads 7–2 on hard courts and 4–1 on clay.

The pair first met in the fourth round of the 2005 NASDAQ-100 Open, Ivanovic coming back from a 5–3 final set defeat to win and notch her first ever career Top 10 victory. Ivanovic has won all of their significant meetings including their only Grand Slam encounter at the 2007 French Open en route to her first Grand Slam final and both their final meetings, at the 2007 Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin and the 2008 Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells. Kuznetsova's first victory over Ivanovic came at the 2006 Medibank International in Sydney, which remains her only win against Ivanovic in a WTA event, her other two coming both in Fed Cup encounters in 2008 and 2012.

Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova have met 14 times, Sharapova leading the head-to-head 10–4. Sharapova leads 6–1 on hard courts and 4–2 on clay. Ivanovic leads 1–0 on carpet.

The pair first met at the 2006 Generali Ladies Linz which Sharapova won in straight sets. Ivanovic beat Sharapova at the 2007 French Open in straight sets easily to advance to her first Grand Slam final. They would meet again at a Grand Slam, this time in the 2008 Australian Open final dubbed the "Glam Slam" final which Sharapova won in straight sets. After that match the pair did not meet for more than four years until the 2012 BNP Paribas Open where Sharapova won after Ivanovic retired after winning the first game in the second set. Ivanovic would then lose the next four meetings that followed.

In 2014, Ivanovic defeated Sharapova for the first time since 2007 at the Rome Masters in straight sets. Their match at the Cincinnati Masters was a dramatic and controversial one. Ivanovic was up a set and a double break before a bad call was made that affected Ivanovic and allowed Sharapova back into the match to steal the second set. Then, in the third set, Ivanovic was up 1–0, 15–15 before she took a medical timeout, after which Sharapova took control of the set. Up 4–3 with a break, Sharapova double faulted on break point and sarcastically said to the umpire to "check her blood pressure" referring to the medical timeout that Ivanovic took earlier in the set. Sharapova broke right back to serve for the match. Sharapova had two match points but failed to convert both. Ivanovic would eventually prevail, recording her first win over Sharapova on the hard courts.

The pair did not need to wait long to meet in 2015, with both drawn as the top 2 seeds in the Brisbane International. Both players qualified for the final, but it was Sharapova who once again clinched victory on the hard courts, despite dropping the first set to Ivanovic in a tiebreak.

Ivanovic and Nadia Petrova have met 14 times since 2005, Ivanovic leading the head-to-head 9–5 overall. Ivanovic leads 4–2 on hard courts and 5–1 on clay. Petrova leads 1–0 on both grass and carpet.

The pair first met in the second round of the 2005 NASDAQ-100 Open with Ivanovic winning in straight sets. Later in the year, Petrova reached the semifinals of the French Open by defeating Ivanovic in straight sets in the quarterfinals. In the next two matches both players won one, and both were in a round of 16. Ivanovic won two significant matches in 2007. First, she beat Petrova in the 4th round of Wimbledon after a rollercoaster three set match. Later in the summer Ivanovic won in straight sets in their only meeting in a final, in Los Angeles. At that time, it was 4–2 for Ivanovic in their head-to-head, but Petrova won the next two meetings in two close matches to level the result. However, Ivanovic won five of the next six meetings, including the quarterfinals of the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia when Petrova retired but after Ivanovic had won the first nine games, and the semifinals of the 2011 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, which Ivanovic won in straight sets.

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour most Improved player (2005)

Serbian Sport Association "May Award" (2007)

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour most Improved player (2007)

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (2007)

Nominated for U.S. Secretary of State's 2007 International Women of Courage Award (2007)

Ivanovic's inspiration to begin playing was Monica Seles, who at that time played for Yugoslavia. In 2010, Ivanovic adopted Basel as her home away-from-home. She spent her spare time training and relaxing there and was quoted as saying she "appreciates Swiss solitude" and "I enjoy training here, especially in the summer."

Aside from her tennis career, she also studied finance at a university in Belgrade, and Spanish in her spare time. On 8 September 2007, Ivanovic became a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia, alongside Aleksandar Đorđević, Jelena Janković, Emir Kusturica and Novak Djokovic. She takes a special interest in the fields of education and child protection. Ivanovic visited a primary school in Serbia during her inauguration and said that she is "also looking forward to going into the classroom and meeting many kids".

Ivanovic has appeared as a character in Smash Court Tennis 3, released in 2007, Virtua Tennis 2009, released in 2009, Grand Slam Tennis for Wii, also released in 2009, Top Spin 4 and Virtua Tennis 4 both released in 2011. She is also featured in Grand Slam Tennis 2, released in 2012. She stars, among others, alongside Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Lindsay Davenport, Anna Chakvetadze, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova.

Ivanovic appeared in a number of international magazines like FHM (Germany, United Kingdom, Australia), Vanity Fair (Spain), Cosmopolitan (Serbia), Vanidades (Mexico), Grazia (Serbia), The Best Shop (Serbia), Sports Illustrated (South Africa) and Harper's Bazaar (Serbia).

In early 2017, Ivanovic announced she was joining tennis technology company PlaySight Interactive as a brand ambassador.