Ana Ivanovic

Having started the year at No 14, Serbian beauty Ana Ivanovic has since strung together remarkable performances at the French Open and Wimbledon to lie perched at No 5, just four places away from her ultimate goal, of becoming the No 1 player in the world.

She knows she is almost there, but isn’t willing to count her chickens yet.
I was very intimidated by the Centre Court the first time I played on it against [Nicole] Vaidisova, but then after a set or so I could relax a little bit.


Talking to XPRESS after her semi-final journey at Wimble-don, the 19-year-old said: "I just want to enjoy the season. I’m very happy with my game at the moment, but I still need to improve in all areas.

"My goal is to be No 1 and obviously this is another step towards that. I’m still very young, so I don’t put a time on when I want to achieve this goal, but I feel I am moving in the right direction.

"It’s important that I get more experience. Being in these situations helps for the next time. I was very intimidated by the Centre Court the first time I played on it against [Nicole] Vaidisova, but then after a set or so I could relax a little bit.

"Against Williams it wasn’t really the occasion, it was that she played so well. But for sure I can improve on how I handle these big occasions and I’m confident this will happen."

Following the French Open, Ana had admitted to being fatigued mentally and said she hadn’t expected to do so well at Wimbledon. "I was really happy with how I played. Maybe it wasn’t my very best tennis, but it was all a great bonus. I wasn’t expecting to do so well.

"Like you said, I was mentally tired after the French Open and didn’t have many expectations for Wimbledon. So to reach the semi-final makes me very happy."

So does she think, given her battling wins against Nadia Petrova and Nicole Vaidisova, she has also become mentally stronger in these past two months?

"I think I’ve always been a fighter but I definitely improved many areas in the last two months, also mentally. Playing more against the top players teaches you a lot because you have to focus very hard. If you lose your concentration you can lose the match," she said.

The whole of the hard court season is still to come, but Ana is already formulating plans to visit Dubai.

"I need to decide where I will do preparation for Australian Open, and Dubai is one of the places I could train. It’s a great city so I could have my holiday there at the end of the season even if I don’t train there," she said