Slobodan Živojinović

Slobodan "Boba" Živojinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан Живојиновић, pronounced [slɔbɔ̌dan ʒiʋɔjǐːnɔʋit͡ɕ]; born 23 July 1963) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who competed for SFR Yugoslavia.

Slobodan Živojinović
Živojinović at Wimbledon in the mid 1980s.
Country (sports) Yugoslavia
ResidenceBelgrade, Serbia
Born (1963-07-23) 23 July 1963
Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Turned pro1981
Retired1992
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,450,654
Singles
Career record150–138
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 19 (26 October 1987)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian OpenSF (1985)
French Open3R (1988)
WimbledonSF (1986)
US Open3R (1987)
Doubles
Career record151–102
Career titles8
Highest rankingNo. 1 (8 September 1986)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian OpenQF (1985)
French Open1R (1985, 1989, 1991)
WimbledonSF (1987)
US OpenW (1986)

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 October 26, 1987, when he became world No. 19.

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 150 wins and 138 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 September 8, 1986.

Career titles

Singles (2)

Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Tour (2)
Result No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1. Nov 1986 Houston, United States Carpet (i) Scott Davis 6–1, 4–6, 6–3
Win 2. Oct 1988 Sydney, Australia Hard (i) Richard Matuszewski 7–6(10–8), 6–3, 6–4

Doubles (8)

Legend
Grand Slam (1)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Tour (7)
Result No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1. Jul 1985 Boston, United States Hard Libor Pimek Peter McNamara
Paul McNamee
2–6, 6–4, 7–6
Win 2. Mar 1986 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) Boris Becker John Fitzgerald
Tomáš Šmíd
7–6, 7–5
Win 3. Mar 1986 Rotterdam, Netherlands Carpet (i) Stefan Edberg Wojtek Fibak
Matt Mitchell
2–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win 4. Aug 1986 US Open, New York Hard Andrés Gómez Joakim Nyström
Mats Wilander
4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3
Win 5. Mar 1987 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) Boris Becker Chip Hooper
Michael Leach
7–6, 7–6
Win 6. Mar 1987 Milan, Italy Carpet (i) Boris Becker Sergio Casal
Emilio Sánchez
3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win 7. Oct 1988 Tokyo, Japan Carpet (i) Andrés Gómez Boris Becker
Eric Jelen
7–5, 5–7, 6–3
Win 8. Feb 1990 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) Emilio Sánchez Goran Ivanišević
Balázs Taróczy
7–5, 6–3

Team competitions (1)

No. Date Team competition Surface Partner/Team Opponents Score
1. 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

Tournament1982198319841985198619871988198919901991Career SR
Australian Open A A A SF NH 3R 3R 2R 1R Q2 0 / 6
French Open 1R A 2R 2R 1R 1R 3R 1R 1R A 0 / 8
Wimbledon A A A 2R SF QF 4R 4R 1R 1R 0 / 7
US Open A A A 1R 1R 3R 1R 1R A A 0 / 5
Grand Slam SR 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 2 0 / 26
  • A = did not participate in the tournament
  • NH = tournament not held
  • SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

Personal life

Živojinović at Wimbledon in the mid-1980s

Živojinović was engaged to Zorica Desnica with whom he has a son Filip. The couple did not marry. Desnica later married basketball player Ivo Nakic and is mother of another basketball player Mario Nakić and a daughter named Iva.

In 1991, Živojinović married Yugoslav folk singer Fahreta Jahić known as Lepa Brena.

Živojinović's media prominence, especially in the years since his retirement, owes much to his marriage to Lepa Brena, Yugoslavia's biggest commercial folk singing star. Their wedding on December 7, 1991 was a media event throughout the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The lavish ceremony took place at Belgrade's InterContinental Hotel with Ion Ţiriac as the groom's best man. The level of interest in the event was such that Brena's manager Raka Đokić released a VHS tape of the wedding for commercial exploitation.[1] Their very public relationship has been providing steady fodder for various yellow media publications ever since.

The couple have two sons — Stefan (born in New York City in May 1992) and Viktor. In the afternoon hours of Thursday, November 23, 2000, 8-year-old Stefan was kidnapped by members of Zemun mafia clan and returned on Tuesday five days later on the side of BelgradeNiš highway for the ransom sum reported to be more than DM 2 million.[2]

Throughout 2005 and 2006, there were numerous tabloid reports about Živojinović's supposed infidelity and bad state of his marriage. In April 2006, he reportedly moved out of the family home following an argument with Brena.[3] Although the reports of a separation were frequent and detailed,[4] the couple are still together.

References

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Yannick Noah
Andrés Gómez
Andrés Gómez
World No. 1 (doubles)
August 25, 1986 - September 7, 1986
September 22, 1986 - October 19, 1986
November 10, 1986 - November 23, 1986
Succeeded by
Andrés Gómez
Andrés Gómez
Andrés Gómez
Preceded by
Boško Ivanović
President of the Tennis Federation of Serbia
2006–2011
Succeeded by
Vuk Jeremić
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