Iztok Božič (born 27 September 1971) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player from Slovenia. He is also a former captain of the

Slovenia Fed Cup team The Slovenia Billie Jean King Cup team represents Slovenia in the Billie Jean King Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Slovene Tennis Association. History Slovenia competed in its first Fed Cup in 1992. Its best result was reaching t ...

Biography

Early years

Božič, who was born in

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

, began playing tennis at the age of seven. As a junior, he reached the round of 16 at the

1989 Australian Open The 1989 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on Hardcourt, outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park, Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria (state), Victoria in Australia. It was the 77th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 16 ...

, and also partnered with

Patrick Rafter Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and world No. 6 in doubles. Rafter won eleven ...

in the boys' doubles.

ATP career

In the early 1990s, he began competing professionally and is notable for being the first Slovenian player to be ranked in the world's top 200. He was the runner-up at the Kosice Challenger in 1994 and appeared twice in the main draw of ATP Tour tournaments, both times as a qualifier. At the

1995 ATP St. Pölten The 1995 ATP St. Pölten, also known as OTV Raiffeisen Grand Prix for sponsorship reasons, is a men's tennis tournament played in St. Poelten, Austria on outdoor clay courts. The tournament was held from 19 June until 26 June 1995 and was part of ...

, he took third seed

Gilbert Schaller Gilbert Schaller (born 17 March 1969), is a former professional tennis player from Austria. Schaller achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 17 in 1995. At the 1995 French Open, Schaller upset world No. 2 Pete Sampras in the first ro ...

to three sets in the first round and also lost in the opening round of the

Croatia Open The Croatia Open (currently sponsored by Plava laguna) is a men's ATP tennis tournament held in Umag, Croatia that is part of the 250 series of the ATP Tour. The tournament began in 1990 when it was part of Yugoslavia, and is the oldest tennis ...

in 2001, in three sets to Óscar Serrano. In 1998, he made it to the final round of qualifying at three of the four

Grand Slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

tournaments: the

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 ...

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

and

US Open U.S. Open or US Open are open championship sporting tournaments that are hosted in the United States and in which anyone, especially amateur and professional, or American and non-American, may compete. The term may also be applied to non-sporting ev ...

Representative

At the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

, Božič was a member of Slovenia's first-ever Olympic squad as an independent nation and participated in the men's doubles competition. He and his partner, Blaž Trupej, were defeated in the opening round by the Indian pairing of

Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player and the first Asian man to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all-tim ...

and

Ramesh Krishnan Ramesh Krishnan (born 5 June 1961) is an Indian tennis coach and former professional tennis player. As a junior player in the late 1970s, he won the singles titles at both, Wimbledon and the French Open. He went on to reach three Grand Slam q ...

. Božič played a total of 15

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 ...

ties for

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

during his career, with his debut in 1994 against Greece in Slovenia's first-ever home fixture. By the time he retired, he had amassed a 14/14 record, with all victories coming in singles. He won a silver medal for Slovenia at the

1997 Mediterranean Games The XIII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1997 Mediterranean Games, were the 13th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Bari, Italy, from 13 to 25 June 1997, where 2,956 athletes (2,166 men and 790 women) from 21 countries partici ...

, in the men's doubles with

Borut Urh Borut Urh (born 28 July 1974) is a former professional tennis player from Slovenia. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 281 in 1999 and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 160 in 1997. Urh participated in 12 Davis Cup ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bozic, Iztok 1971 births Living people Slovenian male tennis players Tennis players from Maribor Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic tennis players for Slovenia Competitors at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Slovenia Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis