Iva Majoli-Marić (born 12 August 1977) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player from Croatia who played for both

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and Croatia. She upset

Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...

to win the women's singles title at the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

in 1997. Majoli also won seven other singles titles and one doubles title during her career. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4, in February 1996.

Career

Majoli was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Social ...

. As a girl, she was trained by

Jelena Genčić Jelena Genčić ( sr-cyr, Јелена Генчић, ; 9 October 1936 – 1 June 2013) was a Serbian tennis and handball player and coach. In the 1970s she became a junior tennis coach and was later credited for playing a major role in the early ...

. Iva turned professional in September 1990 at the age of 13 when she played her first professional match in

Makarska Makarska (; it, Macarsca, ; german: Macharscha) is a town on the Adriatic coastline of Croatia, about southeast of Split (city), Split and northwest of Dubrovnik, in the Split-Dalmatia County. Makarska is a prominent regional tourist center, ...

, representing Yugoslavia, losing in the first round to

Ruxandra Dragomir Ruxandra Dragomir Ilie (born 24 October 1972) is a retired tennis player from Romania. She won four singles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour during her career. The right-hander reached her highest individual WTA ranking on 25 August 1997 ...

. Aged 19, she won the 1997 French Open singles title, defeating

Sandra Kleinová Sandra Kleinová (born 8 May 1978) is a retired Czech tennis player. Born in Prague, Kleinová reached the Fed Cup final in Nagoya in 1995. She was part of the Czech Republic Fed Cup team in 1997. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 41st, which ...

Alexandra Fusai Alexandra Fusai (born 22 November 1973) is a former professional tennis player from France. Fusai was born in Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine. Starting from September 1989 when she turned professional, Fusai played four tournaments (all of them p ...

Ann Grossman Ann Grossman-Wunderlich (born October 13, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. Grossman was born in the United States. She competed on the WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by th ...

Lindsay Davenport Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. Davenport was ranked singles world No. 1 for a total of 98 weeks, and was the year-end singles world No. 1 four times (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005) ...

, Ruxandra Dragomir and

Amanda Coetzer Amanda Coetzer (born 22 October 1971, in Hoopstad) is a South African former professional tennis player. Coetzer finished in the WTA rankings top 20 for ten consecutive seasons (1992–2001), peaking at world No. 3. She reached three Grand Slam ...

before beating the 16-year-old

in straight sets, 6–4, 6–2. Majoli played aggressively from the baseline to end Hingis's 37-match winning streak and hand her opponent her first defeat in a final of a

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

. Majoli played her best tennis as a teenager, reaching her career high ranking of world No. 4 in 1996. After a quarterfinal appearance at the

1998 French Open The 1998 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 25 May until 7 June. It was the 102nd staging of the French Open, and the second Gran ...

, she failed to reach the fourth round of any subsequent Grand Slam singles tournament. In 2002, ranked world No. 58, Majoli defeated

Patty Schnyder Patty Schnyder (born 14 December 1978)
Weltwoche, 14. September 2011 is a Swiss reti ...

, in the final of the

Family Circle Cup The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...

in Charleston, South Carolina. The victory increased Majoli's ranking to world No. 33, but her game steadily declined thereafter, with her ranking plummeting to No. 131 in 2003. In the final years of her tennis career, Majoli suffered from a series of injuries – most notably a shoulder injury – and struggled to play consistently. On June 12, 2004, she announced her retirement from the game. In 2006, she announced that she was engaged and pregnant with her first child. She married a local businessman, Stipe Marić, on 9 September 2006, with

Jennifer Capriati Jennifer Maria Capriati (born March 29, 1976) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. A member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, she won three singles Grand Slam titles and was the gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics. C ...

and

Mary Pierce Mary Caroline Pierce (born 15 January 1975) is a retired tennis professional who represented France internationally in team competitions and the Olympics. She was born in Canada to an American father and a French mother, and holds citizenship of ...

attending the wedding. She gave birth to her daughter Mia on 31 October 2006. In 2007, Majoli participated in the second season of the Croatian version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''. Her partner was Marko Herceg. She was eliminated in the fourth episode. In 2012, she was selected to be the non-playing captain of the Croatian Fed Cup team. Majoli made a comeback in professional tennis at the

2015 Kremlin Cup The 2015 Kremlin Cup was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 26th edition of the Kremlin Cup for the men and the 20th edition for the women. The tournament was part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series of the 2015 ATP World ...

, where she received a wildcard with Anastasia Bukhanko in the doubles draw.

Significant finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (title)

Tier I finals

Singles: 3 (3 titles)

WTA career finals

Singles: 17 (8 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Doubles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)

ITF finals

Singles (2–4)

Doubles (0–1)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

References

External links

* * *
Majoli announces retirement

More about her French Open Win
{{DEFAULTSORT:Majoli, Iva 1977 births Living people Croatian female tennis players French Open champions Olympic tennis players of Croatia Tennis players from Zagreb Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Hopman Cup competitors Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles