Goran Ivanišević

Croatian tennis champ, a left- handed temperamental tyrant of the tennis court, who made 13 unsuccessful attempts at securing the Wimbledon crown before finally copping the trophy on 9 July 2001. Achieving his childhood ambition, the following day he sailed into the harbour of his hometown, Split, with more than 300,000 fans giving him a hero¹s welcome.

Goran was considered well past his prime after a two-year dry spell that saw him tumble from the peaks of professional tennis to the humiliating qualifying rounds of major championships. He had been close to glory before ­ the runner-up at Wimbledon in July 1992, 1994 and 1998, he remarked that, "In my life I was always second." After the 1998 defeat he was so deeply inconsolable that those around him wondered whether he would commit suicide. The loss sent him spiraling into a three-year depression, during which an on-going battle

with a shoulder injury severely impaired his famous killer serve. An obsession over his many superstitions could not have helped morale either. ("There can be ten or 20 [superstitions] and you think that each one can lose you the match. I have to try very hard not to forget one of them.")

The son of a Catholic engineering professor and his biochemist wife, Goran turned pro in 1988 to raise money for his sister who was sick with throat cancer. His natural talent paid off in late January 1989, when he came home with $40,000 in prize money from the Australian Open in Melbourne. He was soon seen as the wild child of tennis with his flamboyant, risky shots and fiery temperament. Soft-spoken, shy and placid off-court, he is volatile, angry and explosive when the pressure hits on-court. He never disappoints fans who expect him to wear his emotions on his sleeve, and later he developed an entertaining comedy routine on-court to punctuate the bouts of racquet abuse and obscenities. Many journalists have written of his split personality and self-destructive mood swings on-court.