Ivan Ljubicic Retires from Tour: A Look at Some of His Career Highlights

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at Internationaled.org

Published: April 15, 2012

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Today, 33-year-old Ivan Ljubicic from Croatia retired from the ATP tour. It was known that he would do so at his home tournament, Monte Carlo, this year; the question merely was how far he would go in the tournament. 

In the end, his 15 years on the ATP tour ended when he lost in the first round against countryman Ivan Dodig, 6-0, 6-3. That marks a fitting passing of the torch to a countryman a few years younger than Ljubicic. 

Ljubicic is the second-greatest Croatian player ever, only slightly overshadowed by Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic. He's well-liked on tour, not least among fellow Croats, to whom he's always been kind of a leader.  

Ivan's best years tennis-wise were 2005-2006, when he reached his one and only slam semifinal (losing to Rafael Nadal at the French Open in 2006) and climbed as high as third on the ATP tour rankings. He also reached three Masters finals but lost all of them (to Nadal, Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych). 

Moreover, he helped Croatia win the Davis Cup in 2005, winning 11 of his 12 rubbers. In the first round, he and Mario Ancíc became one of two teams to ever defeat the Bryan brothers in a Davis Cup match.

Ljubicic also beat Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick in that tie, the latter in five sets, to create one of the biggest Davis Cup surprises in recent memory (the tie was even played in the US).

See highlights here. Ljubicic and Croatia marched on to the title. 

Another highlight for the 6'4" Croat was the 2004 Olympics, where he and Mario Ancíc won a bronze medal. 

But perhaps his biggest single success came at the tail end of his career, when he, after having been runner-up in three Masters finals, finally got a win at Indian Wells in 2010, two days before his 31st birthday, becoming the oldest man to win his first Masters final. 

Ljubicic went on a dream run, beating world No. 2 Nov...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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