Ana Ivanovic hires new coach on trial basis
Former World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic has hired Coach Antonio van Grichen in order to get through the Australian hard courts, and perhaps beyond, in the next season. The Serbian tennis pro, who enjoyed a brief stint as the top player
on the Women’s Tennis Associaition, had been training under Steffi Graf’s former coach, Heinz Gunthardt, however, he was no longer agreeable to the idea of full-time travel and the two parted ways in the fall.
Ivanovic, who managed to up her rankings to World No. 17 after her success at the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, has also worked with Coach Craig Kardon and Adidas Player Development experts Sven Groeneveld,
Mats Merkel and Darren Cahill. Her greater achievements include beating Dinara Safina to win the French Open in 2008; she was also a finalist at Roland Garros in 2007 and at Melbourne Park in 2008.
Meanwhile, Portuguese coach van Grichen is perhaps most famous for helping Belarusian tennis pro, Victoria Azarenka to get to World No. 6. He has also enjoyed short stints with French Number 3 Alize Cornet, Sorana Cirstea of Romania
and this year’s US Open finalist, Vera Zvonareva.
In December 2009, Azarenka and Zvonareva switched coaches briefly; the Belarusian player hired Sam Sumyk, Zvonareva’s long time mentor, while Azarenka traded in van Grichen. This exchange did not last long; Zvonareva faced great
difficulty and was unable to accept Sumyk’s split from her. The Russian player is notorious for having broken down in tears and gesturing towards Sumyk halfway through a match between her and Azarenka in Dubai.
Only two months after this incident, Zvonareva did away with van Grechen’s guidance at the Indian Wells tournament and announced that she would, from now on, play without a coach. However, she eventually hired her former doubles
partner and childhood companion Serget Demekhin to coach her; he is famous for helping Zvonareva to reach the World No. 2 spot.
Meanwhile, Ivanovic’s first test run with her new coach will be at the Hopman Cup, where she will start her 2011 campaign.
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