Janko Tipsarević (, ; born 22 June 1984) is a Serbian tennis coach and former professional player. In tennis, his career-high singles ranking is world No. 8, achieved on 2 April 2012. In his career, he won 4 ATP World Tour titles, one ATP doubles title, three Futures, and 15 Challenger titles. Tipsarević also won the 2001 Australian Open junior title. He holds notable victories over former world No. 1 players Carlos Moyá, Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Andy Roddick, his compatriot Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. His best results at a Grand Slam tournament were reaching the quarterfinals at the US Open in 2011 and 2012.
Early life Tipsarević was born in Belgrade, Serbia (then SFR Yugoslavia). His father, Pavle, is a professor, and his mother, Vesna, is a housewife. He also has a younger brother, Veljko (Вељко). He finished high school and in 2006 completed his degree in Sports Management at the University of Belgrade.
He began pursuing tennis at age six. At the age of nine, he joined the New Belgrade Tennis Club where he trained under the guidance of Russian coach Roman Savochkin.
Tennis career Juniors: Australian Open champion & junior No. 1 As a junior, he won the 2001 Australian Open boys' singles title, achieving the No. 1 ranking the same year (and No. 4 in doubles).
2001–2004
In 2001, as a member of the Yugoslav Davis Cup team he won all three matches against Poland in the Group II quarterfinal, helping the team to a 3–2 win. The following week, he won his first career Futures title in Belgrade. In 2002, he won his second Futures title in Mexico.
After winning his first ATP Challenger tournament in Germany, he made his ATP Tour debut in Indianapolis in 2003. After beating fellow Serb Nenad Zimonjić in the first round, he lost in the second round to Yevgeny Kafelnikov in straight sets. He also made his Grand Slam debut in the US Open as a qualifier. He lost to 20th seed, Mark Philippoussis in the first round. In 2004, as a qualifier, he made his first appearances at the French Open and Wimbledon, losing in the first round of each. Later that year, he won two Challenger titles in singles and one in doubles.
2005–2006: Breaking top 100 Tipsarević played in 15 ATP tournaments in 2005 and broke into the top 100 for the first time. He also reached the second rounds of the Australian Open and French Open. He lost to Dominik Hrbatý in the Australian Open, but was able to beat him at Roland Garros. He also reached the third round of Wimbledon, beating Tommy Haas and Lu Yen-hsun, but then lost to Thomas Johansson. In doubles, he partnered with Jiří Vaněk to win the Napoli Challenger title. He also reached the quarterfinals with fellow Serb Novak Djokovic in the Croatia Open Umag and the Vietnam Open with Marcos Baghdatis.
He finished 2006 as the No. 2 Serbian tennis player after Djokovic, and he was ranked in the top 100 for the first time at No. 65. He won four Challenger titles, compiling a 31–8 record at that level. On the ATP Tour, he reached the quarterfinals of the Nottingham Open, losing to Robin Söderling from Sweden.
2007–2008: Breaking top 50 After he won the Zagreb Challenger title in May 2007, Tipsarević played full-time on the ATP Tour. He reached the third round of the French Open and the quarterfinals of the Ordina Open. He has also achieved his best Grand Slam performance so far by reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon. He won all of his first three matches in five sets, and this marked the first time since 1974 that someone had won three straight five-set matches at Wimbledon. He also saved a match point in his third round victory over Australian Open runner-up Fernando González. He was eventually defeated by former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets. The win saw him rise to world No. 48, his first time inside the top 50.
Tipsarević pushed Roger Federer to five sets in the third round of the 2008 Australian Open, losing 7–6, 6–7, 7–5, 1–6, 8–10. At that time, Federer had never played a fifth set with 18 games. The match took four and a half hours to complete. His effort in making the third round of the Australian Open made Tipsarević's ranking rise from No. 49 to No. 42.
At the Wimbledon Championships, Tipsarević pulled off a second-round upset of sixth-seeded Andy Roddick in four sets, 6–7, 7–5, 6–4, 7–6. It was his fourth top-ten win. He followed that up with a win over 25th seed Dmitry Tursunov to make his second straight round-of-16 appearance at Wimbledon. He then lost his fourth-round match to Rainer Schüttler.
2009: First ATP final In October 2009, at the Kremlin Cup tournament in Moscow, he advanced to his first-ever ATP final, beating Daniel Köllerer, Christophe Rochus, Robby Ginepri (beating him for the first time in three meetings), and qualifier Illya Marchenko en route. He lost to Mikhail Youzhny in the final in three sets. Despite his disappointing loss in his first final, he came out firing in the very next week, as he reached his second consecutive semifinal (for the first time) at the Bank Austria-TennisTrophy, beating eighth seed John Isner, Michael Berrer and third seed Gaël Monfils, en route. He lost to Jürgen Melzer in the semifinal in three sets, after being a set up and two points away from victory.
2010: Davis Cup title In 2010, he started off the season well by reaching the semifinals at the Chennai Open, but lost to eventual champion Marin Čilić. He reached the second round of the Australian Open, losing to Tommy Haas in five sets. He lost in the opening rounds at the Zagreb Indoors and the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, he beat Andreas Seppi in the opening round, and then stunned third seed Andy Murray in three sets, for the best win of his career to that point. Following the big win, he lost to seventh seed Mikhail Youzhny in the quarterfinals.
In June, he reached his second ATP Tour-level final in Rosmalen. He beat Jérémy Chardy, Arnaud Clément, Peter Luczak, and defending champion Benjamin Becker en route, only to lose to in-form Sergiy Stakhovsky in two sets. At the US Open, Tipsarević defeated Olivier Rochus in the first round, and then scored a big upset by beating former champion and ninth seed Andy Roddick in the second round in four sets. Advancing to the third round of the US Open for the first time, he was defeated by Gaël Monfils in a three-hour four-setter. After the US Open, Tipsarević scored key wins over Tomáš Berdych and Radek Štěpánek in the Davis Cup for Serbia, filling in for an ill Novak Djokovic. In Basel, Tipsarević lost to then world No. 2. Roger Federer in two sets.
2011: Becoming a top-10 player and first ATP titles Tipsarević again started the season well in Chennai, reaching the semifinals but losing to Xavier Malisse in three sets. At the Australian Open, Tipsarević reached the second round and lost in five sets to Fernando Verdasco, despite twice serving for the match and holding match points in the fourth set, 6–2, 6–4, 4–6, 6–7, 0–6. Tipsarević played in Memphis where he lost to eventual champion Andy Roddick in the second round.
His next tournament was in Delray Beach, where he reached the final. This was his third ATP final appearance overall, but he lost to Juan Martín del Potro in straight sets, despite holding a 4–1 lead in the first set. He then reached the second round of the Indian Wells Masters, defeating Tobias Kamke in straight sets but losing to Sam Querrey in the second round. Tipsarević then played the Miami Masters, reaching the fourth round on a run where he defeated Robin Haase, Marin Čilić, and Philipp Petzschner, before losing to Gilles Simon.
At the Monte-Carlo Masters, Tipsaerević was defeated in the first round by Feliciano López. He bounced back at his home event, the Serbia Open, reaching the semifinals. He defeated Kei Nishikori, Mischa Zverev, and Somdev Devvarman, before he withdrew in his match with countryman Novak Djokovic. At Roland Garros, he reached the third round, defeating Brian Dabul and Pere Riba in straight sets before losing to Roger Federer. His next event was the Queen's Club Championships where he reached the round of 16, defeating Blaž Kavčič and Michael Russell before losing to Andy Murray in two sets. At the Eastbourne International, Tipsarević reached the final. He defeated James Ward, Mikhail Kukushkin, Grigor Dimitrov, and Kei Nishikori, before losing to Andreas Seppi, retiring hurt at 3–5 in the third set. At Wimbledon, still troubled by injury, Tipsarević retired against Ivo Karlović in the first round at 1–3 in the second set.
At the German Open, after receiving a bye in the first round, he was defeated by Juan Mónaco. His form improved at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, where he reached the quarterfinals, defeating Michael Berrer and Grigor Dimitrov, but lost to eventual finalist Gaël Monfils in straight sets. At the Rogers Cup, Tipsarević had an impressive run, defeating Alejandro Falla, Fernando Verdasco, Ivan Dodig, and Tomáš Berdych to reach his first Masters series semifinal, where he lost to Mardy Fish. Subsequently, Tipsarević entered the top 20 for the first time.
At the US Open, Tipsarević reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, after defeating Augustin Gensse, Philipp Petzschner, Tomáš Berdych, and Juan Carlos Ferrero, but lost to Djokovic in the quarterfinals, retiring in the fourth set due to a thigh injury. His ranking subsequently rose to No. 13. In the Davis Cup semifinal showdown between Serbia and Argentina, Tipsarević was defeated in three straight sets by Juan Martín del Potro during the second singles rubber of the tie. The defending champions, Serbia, eventually lost the tie 2–3 against Argentina. At the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, he was third seed. He defeated Flavio Cipolla, in the opening round. In the quarterfinals, he played just four games as Nikolay Davydenko retired as Tipsarević led 3–1. In the semifinals, he improved his unbeaten head-to-head record to 5–0 against Kei Nishikori as he dispatched him in straight sets. In the final, he won his first ATP title in five attempts, defeating Marcos Baghdatis. Tipsarević suffered first-round exits at the Japan Open to Dmitry Tursunov, and at the Shanghai Masters to Feliciano López.
He rebounded at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, winning the title as the top seed. He defeated Igor Kunitsyn, avenged his loss against Dmitry Tursunov, and downed home favourite Nikolay Davydenko, saving three consecutive set points on his serve at *0–40 during *4–5 in the second set, to reach the sixth final of his career. In the first all-Serbian final in tennis history, Tipsarević defeated his good friend, compatriot, and defending champion Viktor Troicki in two sets, to win his second career title. The following week, he reached the St. Petersburg Open final, losing to Croatian Marin Čilić in three sets. Thanks to his regularity and despite the loss, he became the first player in the world to reach both Kremlin Cup and St. Petersburg finals consecutively in the same year. At the Swiss Indoors in Basel, he retired in his opening round match against Florian Mayer to a hamstring injury. At the BNP Paribas Masters, he defeated Alex Bogomolov Jr., losing just a one-game, in his opening second-round match. In the third round, he wasted a 5–1 lead in the first set and a 4–2 lead in the second to lose against Tomáš Berdych for the first time in five meetings.