Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian 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 who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Wimbledon Championships as well as the 2010 French Open in men's doubles partnering

Daniel Nestor Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; ; born Danijel Nestorović, September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 108 weeks ( fifth-most ...

. In mixed doubles, Zimonjić won the 2004 Australian Open partnering

Elena Bovina Elena Olegovna Bovina ( rus, Елена Олеговна Бовина, , ɪ̯ɪˈlʲenə ˈbovʲɪnə, links=no; born 10 March 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Russia. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 14 i ...

, the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

French Opens partnering Katarina Srebotnik, the 2008 Australian Open partnering

Sun Tiantian Sun Tiantian ( zh, s=孙甜甜, p=Sūn Tiántián; ; born 12 October 1981) is a Chinese tennis player. She won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in women's doubles along with her partner Li Ting. Sun reached a career-high singles ...

, and the

2014 Wimbledon Championships The 2014 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 128th edition of the The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon C ...

partnering

Samantha Stosur Samantha Jane Stosur (born 30 March 1984) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She is a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and ...

. He has also reached nine further major finals across the two disciplines. Zimonjić won 54 doubles titles on 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 ...

, including the

and

Tour Finals, and 15 Masters 1000-level titles. He became the world No. 1 for the first time in November 2008, going on to spend 50 weeks at the top of the rankings over the next two years. Zimonjić was the second Serbian to top the doubles rankings, after

Slobodan Živojinović Slobodan "Boba" Živojinović ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Живојиновић, ; born 23 July 1963) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who competed for SFR Yugoslavia. Together with Nenad Zimonjić, he is the only tennis player ...

in 1986. In singles, he reached his career-high ranking of world No. 176 in March 1999, and achieved his best major result at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

that year, reaching the third round. Zimonjić represented Serbia in 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 ...

from 1995 to 2017, competing in 55 ties and earning 43 victories, making him the most successful Davis Cup player in Serbian history. He was also part of the team that won the tournament in

, and served as captain from 2017 to 2020, overseeing Serbia's victory at the inaugural ATP Cup in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. Zimonjić also competed at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

on four occasions.

Career

Doubles

Zimonjić turned pro in 1995 and remained relatively unknown outside his native country until a surprise victory in the mixed doubles at the 2004 Australian Open. Paired for the first time with Russian

, he beat defending champions

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova (, ; ; born October18, 1956) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, singles for 332 weeks (List of WTA number ...

and

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 ...

in straight sets in an hour and nine minutes. Alongside Katarina Srebotnik of

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 ...

, he won the 2006 French Open crown with a straight-sets victory over

and

Elena Likhovtseva Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva ( ; born 8 September 1975) is a Kazakhstani-born Russian former tennis player. She turned professional in January 1992, at the age of 16. Together with Mahesh Bhupathi she won the Wimbledon Mixed doubles in 20 ...

. At the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, Zimonjić reached the final of the men's doubles alongside France's Fabrice Santoro and the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles. In 2007, Zimonjić reached the 2007 French Open mixed doubles final as the defending champions with Katarina Srebotnik and lost to Nathalie Dechy and

Andy Ram Andreas "Andy" Ram (; born April 10, 1980) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player. He was primarily a doubles player, and competed in three Olympics. He is the first Israeli tennis player to win a senior Grand Slam event. Ram first ...

. He left Santoro after Wimbledon and teamed with Mahesh Bhupathi until after the 2007 US Open. After the US Open, Nenad left Bhupathi and partnered with

, who won the French Open earlier in the year alongside

Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamians, Bahamian former professional tennis player and coach. He is a former List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles tennis, doubles. He won three of the four Gran ...

. The team won the 2007 St. Petersburg Open, without losing a set. Nestor and Zimonjić later won 2008 Wimbledon (Zimonjić's first Grand Slam), 2009 Wimbledon and 2010 French Open. In 2009, they defended their Wimbledon title & won 5 Masters 1000 titles. At the

World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

as a part of the Serbian team. With Victor Troicki, he won two decisive games against Italian and Argentinian teams; as a result, Serbia finished first in its group, and then proceeded to beat Germany in the final encounter. In 2010, they finished runners-up at the Australian Open, later on in the year he won both the doubles with

and the mixed doubles with Katarina Srebotnik at Roland Garros. Zimonjic ended his partnership with Nestor after winning the ATP World Tour Finals. In 2011, he partnered with

Michaël Llodra Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 3 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), winning 26 career doubles titles, including three majors and ...

, with whom he won one Masters 1000 title & four ATP 500 titles. Their partnership ended mid-way through 2012, after Roland Garros. In 2014, Zimonjic & Nestor renewed their partnership, which saw them both return to the top 10 by May & ranked 3 by the end of the year. In 2015 he started the year partnering

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi ( Punjabi, ; born 17 Mar 1980) is a Pakistani professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He is the only Pakistani player ever to reach a Grand Slam final, having done so in both men's and mixed doubles at the ...

, then teamed up with

Marcin Matkowski Marcin Matkowski (; born 15 January 1981) is a Polish former professional tennis player whose speciality is in doubles. He played college tennis at UCLA, where Jean-Julien Rojer Jean-Julien Rojer ( "John Julian" , ; born 25 August 1981) is a ...

; despite not winning a title together, the Polish-Serbian duo qualified for the World Tour Finals. Zimonjic won titles each year for 16 straight seasons and finished 12 consecutive seasons, starting in 2004, ranked in the ATP doubles top 20. Since 2016, when he played doubles at the Rio Olympics with

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...

, Zimonjic hasn't had a steady partner for a full season. On 26 July 2017 the Serbian became the 10th player to record 700 doubles match wins (or more). In June 2018, Zimonjic underwent bilateral hip replacement surgery. He returned to the ATP tour in February 2019 at the Sofia Open, where he and compatriot Viktor Troicki had won the doubles title two years prior.

2021–2024: Hiatus, Wimbledon invitational, back to Challenger Tour

Although Zimonjic never officially announced his retirement, he did not play on the ATP Tour for more than two years from the 2021 Dubai Tennis Championships until 2023. Partnering

Marion Bartoli Marion Bartoli (; born 2 October 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. Bartoli won the 2013 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, 2013 Wimbledon Championships singles title, after previously being runner-up in 2007 Wimbledo ...

, Zimonjic won the inaugural 2022 Wimbledon mixed invitational in doubles. They beat Todd Woodbridge and

Cara Black Cara Cavell Black (born 17 February 1979) is a Zimbabwean former professional tennis player. Black was primarily a doubles specialist, winning 60 WTA Tour and 11 ITF Women's Circuit, ITF doubles titles. A former List of WTA number 1 ranked dou ...

in straight sets in the final. In 2023, partnering

Rennae Stubbs Rennae Stubbs (born 26 March 1971) is an Australian former professional tennis player, coach and television commentator. She was ranked number 1 in the world in doubles, and the winner of 4 major doubles titles and 2 mixed doubles titles as wel ...

, Zimonjic successfully defended his Wimbledon mixed invitation doubles title. They beat Greg Rusedski and Conchita Martinez in straight sets in the final. In 2023 he announced his intention to return to the

. During the summer of 2023 he played three ATP Challenger Tour events, but he lost in the first round in all three occasions. In 2024, partnering Barbara Schett, he reached the final of 2024 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed invitation doubles. They were defeated by

Mark Woodforde Mark Raymond Woodforde, OAM (born 23 September 1965) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. He is best known as one half of " The Woodies", a doubles partnership with Todd Woodbridge. Woodforde was born in Adelaide, and join ...

and his partner Dominika Cibulkova.

Singles

In August 1994, Zimonjić won his first professional singles title, beating Miles MacLagan on clay at a satellite tournament in Hungary. He went on to win four other ITF satellite events, as well as four Challenger tour titles in singles: Kyiv (Ukraine) in 1998, Belo Horizonte (Brazil) in 2000, Andrezieux (France) in 2001, and Belgrade (Serbia) in 2004. In 2004, he defeated

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...

in St Pölten, and in 2005 on the grass of Halle, he defeated Nicolas Kiefer. Other recognised opponents include Ivo Karlovic in 2000, Nicolas Mahut in 2001.

Davis Cup and ATP Cup

Zimonjić has been a member of Serbia Davis Cup team (previously Yugoslavia Davis Cup team and Serbia and Montenegro Davis Cup team, respectively) since 1995, playing both singles and doubles, and in 2003–2004 he was the playing captain of the national team. In recent years, with the emergence of highly ranked Serbian singles players

, Janko Tipsarević, and Viktor Troicki, Zimonjić became a doubles specialist on the team, partnering all of them, as well as Dušan Vemić and

Ilija Bozoljac Ilija Bozoljac ( sr-Cyrl, Илија Бозољац, ; 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 c ...

. In 2010, Serbia won its first ever Davis Cup title, following the victories over

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(3–2),

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

(4–1),

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

(3–2), and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the final match (3–2). Zimonjić played in all four doubles rubbers over the course of the competition, winning once (against Croatia, partnering Tipsarević) and losing the other three times (partnering Tipsarević, Djokovic, and Troicki, respectively). To celebrate the win, all the players shaved their heads. The central celebration was held in Belgrade in front of several thousand fans, and the Serbian national postal service issued a stamp picturing the players. Flickr - Carine06 - Future star

In the 2013 quarterfinals against the United States, he and

had an impressive five set victory against the no. 1 ranked

Bryan brothers The Bryan brothers, identical twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, are American former professional doubles tennis players. The most successful men's doubles team of all time, they won more professional matches, tournaments and Grand Slam (t ...

. Zimonjić was named Serbia Davis Cup team captain in 2003-2004 and from January 2017 till December 2020 when he was unexpectedly replaced by Victor Troicki. He was also the 2020 ATP Cup captain when Serbia won the inaugural 2020 cup.

Personal life

Zimonjić was born in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, and was brought up in the

Borča Borča ( sr-cyr, Борча, ) is an urban settlement of the municipality of Palilula, Belgrade, Palilula, Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the left-bank part of the municipality, separated by the Danube from the rest of the city. , it has a popu ...

suburb, while he is currently living in

New Belgrade New Belgrade (, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. It was a Planned community, planned city and now is the central business district of Serbia and South East Europe. Construction began in 1948 in a previously un ...

. Zimonjić's paternal family hails from the

Gacko Gacko ( sr-cyrl, Гацко) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the region of East Herzegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina), East Herzegovina. As of 2013, the town has a population of 5,784 inh ...

region in

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical Regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia (reg ...

, from where it settled in Vučkovica near

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the List of cities in Serbia, fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Se ...

, while his mother was born in Gospić, in

Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...

. The family's slava (feast day) is Aranđelovdan. He is related to Bogdan Zimonjić (1813–1909), a Serbian Orthodox priest and guerilla leader. In 2008, he married former model Mina Knežević. On 3 December 2008 his wife gave birth to twins, Leon and Luna.

Career statistics

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Doubles

Mixed doubles

Grand Slam Men's doubles finals: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Grand Slam Mixed doubles finals: 10 (5 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Year–End Championships performance timeline

Year–End Championship doubles finals: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Awards

;1994 * Best Male Tennis Player in

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

;1996 * Best Male Tennis Player in FR Yugoslavia ;1998 * Best Male Tennis Player in FR Yugoslavia ;2001 * Best Male Tennis Player in FR Yugoslavia ;2007 * Serbian Sport Association "May Award" ;2008 * Year-end No. 1 (with

) * ATP Doubles Team of the Year (with Daniel Nestor) * ITF Men's doubles World Champion (with Daniel Nestor) ;2010 * Recognition for 50 matches played for Serbia Davis Cup team ;2012 * Award ''Pride of the Nation'' by Serbia Tennis Federation *

Commitment Award ;2013 * Davis Cup Award of Excellence

Records

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimonjic, Nenad 1976 births Living people Australian Open (tennis) champions French Open champions Olympic tennis players for Serbia Olympic tennis players for Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro male tennis players Serbian male tennis players Tennis players from Belgrade Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Wimbledon champions Yugoslav male tennis players Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players ITF World Champions 21st-century Serbian sportsmen

Career

Doubles

2021–2024: Hiatus, Wimbledon invitational, back to Challenger Tour

Singles

Davis Cup and ATP Cup

Personal life

Career statistics

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Doubles

Mixed doubles

Grand Slam Men's doubles finals: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Grand Slam Mixed doubles finals: 10 (5 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Year–End Championships performance timeline

Year–End Championship doubles finals: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Awards

Records

See also

References

External links