Željko Krajan (;; born 3 February 1979) is a Croatian tennis coach and former professional player.

Playing career

Krajan, a native of

Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...

, began playing tennis at age six.. Retrieved on June 9, 2008 His greatest success as a junior player was winning the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

doubles tournament with

Ivan Ljubičić Ivan Ljubičić (; born 19 March 1979) is a Croatian former professional tennis player, coach and Tennis TV commentator. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 3 singles ranking on 1 May 2006. His career high ...

in 1995. Krajan started his pro career at the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...

in 1997. His highest ATP ranking was No. 88 in August 2002. In 2003 Krajan was sidelined following a shoulder surgery. In 2004 he suffered a serious

quadriceps The quadriceps femoris muscle (, also called the quadriceps extensor, quadriceps or quads) is a large muscle group that includes the four prevailing muscles on the front of the thigh. It is the sole extensor muscle of the knee, forming a large ...

tear, which ultimately caused his retirement from professional tennis in 2005.

Coaching career

From 2005 on, Krajan turned to coaching, at first working with

Saša Tuksar Saša Tuksar (born 12 May 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Croatia. Tuksar made the second round of the Croatia Open in 2003, beating Albert Montañés, who retired hurt after losing the first set. It would be the only match he ...

, a young Croatian tennis player, and then with German junior players as

Heinz Günthardt Heinz Peter Günthardt (; born 8 February 1959) is a retired tennis player from Switzerland. Tennis player career Günthardt won five singles titles during his professional career, including the Rotterdam WCT in 1980. The right-hander reached ...

's assistant coach. In 2006 and 2007 he played in the German Regionalliga Süd-Ost for TC Ismaning. In October 2007, upon recommendation by

, he became the coach of

Dinara Safina Dinara Mubinovna Safina (, ; ; born April 27, 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 26 weeks, and world No. 8 in doubles. Safina ...

, who was at the time at a psychological low point of her career, ranked No. 17 in the world, and close to retiring from tennis. Under Krajan's lead, Safina scored good results in the early 2008 season and placed runner-up in the 2008 French Open. After the 2008 French Open, Krajan was joined by Dejan Vojnović, retired Croatian Olympic sprinter, who became Safina's fitness coach. Her continued string of good results earned her the 2008 WTA Most Improved Player award, and the World No. 1 spot in April 2009. Safina described Krajan as "totally different from any other tennis coach" due to his patience and positive approach, as opposed to being preoccupied with correcting flaws in one's game. Safina and Krajan parted ways in May 2010. In June of the same year Krajan started coaching

Dominika Cibulková Dominika Cibulková (; born 6 May 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. She is the 2016 WTA Finals champion, becoming the fourth player (after Serena Williams in 2001 WTA Tour Championships, 2001, Maria Sharapova in 2004 WTA Tour ...

. Krajan ceased working with Cibulkova in April 2012. In January 2012 Krajan took over coaching of the Croatian Davis Cup team. From April to June 2012 Krajan worked with

Jelena Janković Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the W ...

on trial basis. In August 2012 Krajan began coaching Laura Robson, until they parted ways in May 2013, before the Mutua Madrid Open. Since May 2013, he returned to work in the ATP, coaching Former World No. 8 and

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

finalist

Marcos Baghdatis Marcos Baghdatis (Greek language, Greek: Μάρκος Παγδατής, Arabic language, Arabic: ماركوس بغداتيس); born 17 June 1985 is a Greek Cypriot former professional tennis player and coach. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Aus ...

. In November 2014,

Borna Ćorić Borna Ćorić (; born 14 November 1996) is a Croatian professional tennis player. On 5 November 2018, he reached his best singles ranking of world No. 12. In 2022, Ćorić became the lowest-ranked champion in ATP Tour Masters 1000, Masters 1000 h ...

decided to take Krajan as his new coach. In April 2015, he left Ćorić and has quit being his coach to spend more time with his family. On 25 November 2018, he won the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

with the national team. On 9 November 2019, just nine days before the

, he parted ways with the national team. In February 2024, Krajan started coaching former world number 1,

Karolína Plíšková Karolína Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), holding the position for a total of eight weeks, and has been ...

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 9 (6–3)

Doubles: 4 (2–2)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Krajan, Zeljko 1979 births Croatian male tennis players Croatian tennis coaches Sportspeople from Varaždin Living people