Slobodan "Boba" Živojinović (, ; born 23 July 1963) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who competed for SFR Yugoslavia.
Together with Nenad Zimonjić, he is the only tennis player from Serbia to be the world No. 1 in doubles. As a singles player, he reached the semifinals of the 1985 Australian Open and the 1986 Wimbledon Championships, achieving a career-high ranking of world No. 19 in October 1987.
Tennis career
Živojinović represented SFR Yugoslavia as the number 15 seed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where he was defeated in the second round by France's Guy Forget.
The right-hander won two career singles titles (Houston, 1986 and Sydney, 1988), as well as eight doubles titles. He reached his highest singles ATP ranking on 26 October 1987, when he became world No. 19. Živojinović was known for his size that made him the original big-boom server before Goran Ivanisevic. He built his game on his big serve, enhanced greatly by his height and his muscular thighs. He was an exciting player to watch and a very troubling one to play against. His ace total in a match often became difficult to overcome and players did not look forward to competing against him.
Živojinović's most notable Grand Slam results were two semifinals. As an unseeded player at the 1985 Australian Open, he memorably beat John McEnroe in a five-set quarterfinal to reach the semifinals (where he lost in straight sets to Mats Wilander). The next year, at the 1986 Wimbledon semifinal, again as an unseeded player, he lost to Ivan Lendl in a five-set match.
Over the course of his career, Živojinović amassed an overall singles record of 152 wins and 139 defeats. He was much more successful in doubles competition, winning the US Open in 1986 with Andrés Gómez. The same year, he won three more tournaments. He was ranked as the world No. 1 doubles player on 8 September 1986.
Career finals Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups) Legend Grand Slam (0–0) Tennis Masters Cup (0–0) ATP Tour (2–2)Titles by surfaceHard (1–0)Clay (0–1)Grass (0–0)Carpet (1–1)Titles by settingOutdoors (0–1)Indoors (2–1) ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 0–1 Mar 1985 Nancy, France Carpet (i) Tim Wilkison 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 7–9Win 1–1 Nov 1986 Houston, United States Carpet (i) Scott Davis 6–1, 4–6, 6–3Loss 1–2 May 1988 Forest Hills, United States Clay Andre Agassi 5–7, 6–7(2–7), 5–7Win 2–2 Oct 1988 Sydney, Australia Hard (i) Richard Matuszewski 7–6(10–8), 6–3, 6–4
Doubles: 14 (8 titles, 6 runner-ups) Legend Grand Slam (1–0) Tennis Masters Cup (0–0) ATP Tour (7–6)Titles by surfaceHard (2–2)Clay (0–1)Grass (0–0)Carpet (6–3)Titles by settingOutdoors (2–3)Indoors (6–3) ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1–0 Jul 1985 Boston, United States Hard Libor Pimek Peter McNamara Paul McNamee 2–6, 6–4, 7–6 Loss 1–1 Nov 1985 Wembley, UK Carpet (i) Boris Becker Guy Forget Anders Järryd 5–7, 6–4, 5–7Win 2–1 Mar 1986 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) Boris Becker John Fitzgerald Tomáš Šmíd 7–6, 7–5Win 3–1 Mar 1986 Rotterdam, Netherlands Carpet (i) Stefan Edberg Wojciech Fibak Matt Mitchell 2–6, 6–3, 6–2 Loss 3–2 May 1986 Forest Hills, US Clay Boris Becker Hans Gildemeister Andrés Gómez 6–7, 6–7Loss 3–3 Aug 1986 Toronto, Canada Hard Boris Becker Chip Hooper Mike Leach 7–6, 3–6, 3–6Win 4–3 Aug 1986 US Open, New York Hard Andrés Gómez Joakim Nyström Mats Wilander 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3Loss 4–4 Oct 1986 Vienna, Austria Carpet (i) Brad Gilbert Ricardo Acioly Wojciech Fibak walkover Loss 4–5 Nov 1986 Stockholm, Sweden Hard Pat Cash Sherwood Stewart Kim Warwick 4–6, 4–6Win 5–5 Mar 1987 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) Boris Becker Chip Hooper Michael Leach 7–6, 7–6Win 6–5 Mar 1987 Milan, Italy Carpet (i) Boris Becker Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 Win 7–5 Oct 1988 Tokyo, Japan Carpet (i) Andrés Gómez Boris Becker Eric Jelen 7–5, 5–7, 6–3 Loss 7–6 Oct 1989 Tokyo, Japan Carpet (i) Andrés Gómez Kevin Curren David Pate 6–4, 3–6, 6–7Win 8–6 Feb 1990 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) Emilio Sánchez Goran Ivanišević Balázs Taróczy 7–5, 6–3
Team competitions: 1 (1 title) ResultDateTeam competitionSurfacePartner/TeamOpponentsScoreWin May 1990 World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany Clay Goran Ivanišević Goran Prpić Jim Courier Brad Gilbert Ken Flach Robert Seguso 2–1
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
Tournament 1982198319841985198619871988198919901991 Career SRAustralian OpenAAASFNH3R3R2R1RQ20 / 6French Open1RA2R2R1R1R3R1R1RA0 / 8WimbledonAAA2RSFQF4R4R1R1R0 / 7US OpenAAA1R1R3R1R1RAA0 / 5 Grand Slam SR0 / 10 / 00 / 10 / 40 / 30 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 30 / 2 0 / 26
Personal life Marriage and relationships
In the early-to-mid 1980s, active professional tennis player Živojinović became engaged to Zorica Desnica. The couple had a son, Filip, in 1985. They split up during the late 1980s.
In October 1989, Živojinović began dating the Yugoslav singer Lepa Brena, having reportedly met her at the premiere of her star vehicle film . Their 7 December 1991 wedding—a civic ceremony at Belgrade's InterContinental Hotel with tennis player Ion Țiriac as the groom's best man—was a media event throughout Yugoslavia. The level of attention it generated in the country was such that Brena's manager subsequently released a VHS tape of the wedding for commercial exploitation.Svadba decenije, novosti.rs. Accessed 5 February 2024. The couple's child, son Stefan Emerald Živojinović, was born in May 1992 in New York City. Their second son, Viktor Ernest Živojinović, was born in March 1998 in Miami.
Children On 23 November 2000, Živojinović's and Lepa Brena's eight-year-old son Stefan was kidnapped by members of the Zemun Clan organized crime group in front of the family's home in Belgrade. Five days later, after his family paid a ransom reported to be more than DM2 million, the child was released by being left on the side of the Belgrade—Niš motorway."Stefan predat na niškom autoputu", Glas-javnosti.rs, 1 December 2000.
References
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