Ilija Bozoljac (, ; born 2 August 1985) is a former Serbian professional tennis player and coach. Bozoljac achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 101 on 29 January 2007. In doubles, he reached a career-best ranking of world No. 99 on 22 February 2016. He is commonly known by the nickname Bozo.
Professional career
2006 Bozoljac achieved his best ATP-level result at Zagreb, defeating world No. 170 Dudi Sela in the qualifying rounds. In the main draw, he secured victories over world No. 77 Daniele Bracciali and world No. 34 Feliciano López, before losing in the quarterfinals to world No. 81 Novak Djokovic.
2008 In May, Bozoljac narrowly missed qualifying for the 2008 French Open, losing to no. 75 Eduardo Schwank in the qualifying round.
In June, Bozoljac entered the main draw of the 2008 Wimbledon Championships as a lucky loser. He had defeated Nick Monroe and Robert Smeets in qualifying but lost to Stefano Galvani in five sets.
2010 Bozoljac qualified for Wimbledon and progressed to the second round, where he was defeated in four tight sets by defending champion Roger Federer.
He was a reserve player on the Serbia Davis Cup team when they won the Davis Cup title.
2013 Bozoljac began 2013 by returning to the ITF Men's circuit, taking three singles titles in the opening three months.
In April, Ilija and his doubles partner Nenad Zimonjić beat Bob and Mike Bryan in the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals against the United States, winning 7–6(5), 7–6(1), 5–7, 4–6, 15–13 in a performance described by Sports Illustrated as "Bozo goes Beast Mode...there was Bozoljac playing out of his mind in a five-set win that left everyone shaking their heads". Bozoljac was praised by the Bryan brothers and by U.S. team captain Jim Courier, who said "Let's all tip our hats to his performance. We had him 15-30 a couple times, and the guy came up with some incredible shots."
Style of play Bozoljac was known for his powerful serve, which could reach speeds of up to , as well as his aggressive groundstrokes. His playing style was distinctive, often alternating between a double-handed forehand and a single-handed backhand. A back injury later forced him to moderate his serve, though he continued to exceed during his career.
Personal life Bozoljac was born on 2 August 1985, in Aleksandrovac, Serbia, to Jelena and Miroljub Bozoljac. He started playing tennis in TK Partizan in Belgrade and turned pro in 2002. He has been married to Andrijana Basarić since 2011, and they have two daughters named Lola (b. 2012) and Nika (b. 2015). They live in Belgrade, Serbia.
Team competition finals ResultNo.DateTeam competitionSurfacePartner/TeamOpponentsScoreLoss1.Nov 2013Davis Cup, Belgrade, SerbiaHard (i) Novak Djokovic Dušan Lajović Nenad Zimonjić Tomáš Berdych Radek Štěpánek Lukáš Rosol Jan Hájek2–3
ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures finals Singles: 25 (13–12) LegendATP Challenger Tour (4–10)ITF Futures (9–2)
ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss1.22 August 2005Bukhara, UzbekistanHard Denis Istomin4–6, 7–6(7–2), 5–6 ret.Loss2.10 July 2006Poznań, PolandClay Jan Hájek4–6, 3–6Win3.4 September 2006Donetsk, UkraineClay Tomáš Cakl6–4, 3–6, 7–5Loss4.22 October 2007Rimouski, CanadaCarpet (i) Brendan Evans7–6(7–3), 4–6, 4–6Win5.8 September 2008Ljubljana, SloveniaClay Giancarlo Petrazzuolo6–4, 6–3Win6.15 September 2008Banja Luka, Bosnia & HerzegovinaClay Daniel Gimeno-Traver6–4, 6–4Loss7.1 June 2009Nottingham, Great BritainGrass Brendan Evans7–6(7–4), 4–6, 6–7(4–7)Loss8.12 October 2009Tiburon, California, United StatesHard Go Soeda6–3, 3–6, 2–6Loss9.9 November 2009Knoxville, Tennessee, United StatesHard (i) Taylor Dent3–6, 6–7(6–8)Loss10.15 February 2010Belgrade, SerbiaCarpet (i) Karol Beck5–7, 6–7(4–7)Loss11.11 July 2011Aptos, United StatesHard Laurynas Grigelis2–6, 6–7(4–7)Loss12.29 September 2013Fergana, UzbekistanHard Radu Albot6–7(9–11), 7–6(7–3), 1–6Win13.15 February 2014Kolkata, IndiaHard Evgeny Donskoy6–1, 6–1Loss14.20 July 2014Recanati, ItalyHard Gilles Müller1–6, 2–6
Doubles: 27 (17–10) LegendATP Challenger (15–7)ITF Futures (2–3) ResultDateTournamentCategorySurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Performance timelines
Singles Current through the 2015 Banja Luka Challenger.
{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center;font-size:97% !Tournament!!2003!!2004!!2005!!2006!!2007!!2008!!2009!!2010!!2011!!2012!!2013!!2014!!2015!! |- |colspan=15 align=left|Grand Slam tournaments |- |bgcolor=efefef align=left|Australian Open |A |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q2 |bgcolor=afeeee|2R |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q2 |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q2 |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |bgcolor=efefef|1–1 |- |bgcolor=efefef align=left|French Open |A |A |A |bgcolor=afeeee|2R |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q3 |bgcolor=afeeee|1R |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q2 |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |A |bgcolor=efefef|1–2 |- |bgcolor=efefef align=left|Wimbledon |A |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q2 |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |bgcolor=afeeee|2R |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q2 |bgcolor=afeeee|2R |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |A |bgcolor=efefef|2–2 |- |bgcolor=efefef align=left|US Open |A |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q2 |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q3 |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q3 |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |A |bgcolor=efefef|0–0 |- !style=text-align:left|Win–loss !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !1–1 !1–1 !1–1 !0–1 !1–1 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !4–5 |- |colspan=15 align=left|National representation |- |bgcolor=efefef align=left|Davis Cup |style="background:#ECF2FF;|Z2 |A |A |style="background:#ECF2FF;|PO |style="background:#ECF2FF;|PO |A |bgcolor=afeeee|1R |Alt |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=thistle|F |bgcolor=afeeee|1R |A |bgcolor=efefef|3–2 |- !style=text-align:left|Win–loss !1–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–1 !1–0 !0–0 !1–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–1 !0–0 !3–2 |- |colspan=15 align=left|ATP Masters Series 1000 |- |bgcolor=efefef align=left|Indian Wells Masters |A |A |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |A |A |A |A |A |A |A |A |bgcolor=efefef|0–0 |- |bgcolor=efefef align=left|Monte-Carlo Masters |A |A |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q2 |A |A |A |A |A |A |A |A |bgcolor=efefef|0–0 |- |bgcolor=efefef align=left|Madrid Open1 |A |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q2 |A |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |A |A |A |A |A |bgcolor=efefef|0–0 |- |bgcolor=efefef align=left|Canadian Open |A |A |A |A |A |A |A |bgcolor=ecf2ff|Q1 |A |A |A |A |A |bgcolor=efefef|0–0 |- !style=text-align:left|Win–loss !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 |- | colspan="15" style="text-align:left" |Career statistics |-bgcolor=efefef |align=left|Tournaments |0 |0 |1 |2 |5 |1 |1 |4 |1 |0 |3 |0 |0 |colspan=2|18 |- !style=text-align:left|Overall win–loss !1–0 !0–0 !1–1 !3–3 !2–5 !1–1 !1–1 !1–4 !1–1 !0–0 !0–3 !0–1 !0–0 !colspan=2|11–20 |-bgcolor=efefef |align=left|Year-end ranking |834 |567 |207 |136 |182 |141 |183 |149 |227 |485 |237 |207 |852 |colspan=2|35% |} 1 Held as Hamburg Masters (outdoor clay) until 2008, Madrid Masters (outdoor clay) 2009 – present.
DoublesCurrent through 2018 Wimbledon Championships.'' Tournament2003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA0–0French OpenAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA0–0WimbledonAAAA1RAA1RAAAAAA2R1R1–4US OpenAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA0–0Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–10–00–00–10–00–00–00–00–00–01–10–11–4National representationDavis CupZ2AAPOPOA1RAltSFQFF1RAAAA4–6Win–loss0–00–00–01–21–00–00–00–01–00–11–20–10–00–00–00–04–6Career statisticsTournaments001110021100011312Overall win–loss0–00–00–13–31–10–00–01–21–10–21–20–10–01–11–10–39–18Year-end ranking54581733925546817148913644690028225411064033333%
References
External links