Undoubtedly, Croatia's most famous tennis player – past or present – is Goran Ivanisevic…at least, certainly in the eyes of Wimbledon fans. The lanky Croat reached the final there four times – in 1992 (losing to Andre Agassi), in 1994 and in 1998 (losing to Pete Sampras both times). Finally, in 2001, Ivanisevic won his most coveted title in a truly thrilling final, beating Australian Pat Rafter 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 9–7. Ivanisevic was a wild-card entrant at that year's tournament as he was only ranked at a lowly 125th in the world at the time. Nearly 30 years old, he had also been struggling with a shoulder injury for the preceding few years. He remains the lowest ranked player, and only wild card ever, to win Wimbledon. (And he also unusually won on a Monday, as the schedule of the second week of that year's Wimbledon was delayed by bad weather.)
Watch the final game of this epic match - and the immediate celebrations - below (commentary in Croatian):
Ivanisevic also won 21 other ATP Tour titles during his career, as well as bronze medals in both the mens's singles and doubles tournaments at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, the first Olympics in which Croatia competed. He was the proud
Of the current crop of players, top in the men's game is 23-year-old Marin Cilic, who is currently ranked in the low 20s, but reached a career high of number nine. Other players include Ivan Ljubicic (once number three in the world) and Ivo Karlovic, who is famous for being incredibly tall - 6ft 10! - and has the fastest serve ever recored in men's tennis, at 251km/h (156mph). Ivo is also a highly amusing personality on Twitter - make sure you follow him on @ivokarlovic.
Another famous recent name in the Croatian tennis world is Mario Ancic (who, like Goran Ivanisevic, is also from Split) who retired from tennis in early 2011 at the age of only 26, having battled in recent years with injury and illness. Mario was also famous for having studied law (at the University of Split) during his tennis career so don't worry, he has something to fall back on!
In women's tennis, Croatia does not at present have any top players playing the game. Famous players in the past include Iva Majoli (who beat Martina Hingis in the 1997 French Open final to win the title) and Mirjana Lucic.
