Ivan Ljubicic was one win away from a "perfect 12" in this year's Davis Cup competition.
If he had beaten Dominik Hrbaty on the last day of the final between Croatia and Slovakia
in Bratislava, he would have equalled John McEnroe's 1982 record of 12 Davis Cup wins in
a single year — eight singles and four doubles. It could be argued that Ljubicic's feat
would have been greater since the Croatian's matches had all been "live" rubbers, whereas
three of McEnroe's victories were in "dead" rubbers. It would have been fitting for
Ljubicic to have clinched the winning rubber, but it was not to be. Waking up with a stiff
neck, he received treatment all morning and only decided to play at the last minute, dosed
up on painkillers which affected his stomach and caused him to vomit when he left the court
during the third set. Typically gracious after his five-set defeat, he refused to take any
credit away from his opponent. "I think Dominik played unbelievable match - definitely
the best match ever against me," he said. "I think he's the deserved winner here."
Disappointment turned to joy when team-mate Mario Ancic clinched victory in the final rubber.
"I would like to say that I'm probably the happiest loser in the world today," said
Ljubicic.
Ljubicic's powerful serve brought him an excellent string of results on the indoor circuit,
reaching the final in four out of five tournaments and securing qualification for
the Masters Cup in Shanghai. Here, after an absorbing, but exhausting tussle with world
number one Roger Federer, he finally ran out of steam, losing to Argentina's David
Nalbandian in his final round robin match.
Ljubicic entered professional tennis in 1998 and won his first ATP singles title at
Lyon in 2001. He teamed up with Mario Ancic to win the bronze medal in doubles at the
2004 Olympics. This year has been his most successful so far. He won titles in Metz and
Vienna and was runner-up at another six tournaments, losing to Federer in three of them.
He started playing at age nine. An Italian club helped him to escape war-torn Bosnia four
years later in 1992 and his game developed rapidly to the point where he reached the final
of Wimbledon Juniors in 1996, losing to Vladimir Voltchkov. He has been coached by
Italian Riccardo Piatti since 1997.
Elected vice-president of the ATP Player Council for 2006, Ljubicic enjoys scuba diving
and takes diving holidays with his wife at the end of every season.
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