Slobodan Živojinović

Slobodan "Bobo"[1][2][3][4] Živojinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан Живојиновић, pronounced [slɔbɔ̌dan ʒiʋɔjǐːnɔʋit͡ɕ]; born 23 July 1963) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who competed for SFR Yugoslavia.

Slobodan Živojinović
Živojinović at Wimbledon in the mid 1980s.
Country (sports) Yugoslavia
ResidenceBelgrade, Serbia
Born (1963-07-23) 23 July 1963
Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Turned pro1981
Retired1992
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,450,654
Singles
Career record151–139
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 19 (26 October 1987)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenSF (1985)
French Open3R (1988)
WimbledonSF (1986)
US Open3R (1987)
Doubles
Career record151–102
Career titles8
Highest rankingNo. 1 (8 September 1986)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenQF (1985)
French Open1R (1985, 1989, 1991)
WimbledonSF (1987)
US OpenW (1986)

Together with Nenad Zimonjić, he is the only tennis player from Serbia to be the world No. 1 in doubles. As a singles player, he reached the semifinals of the 1985 Australian Open and the 1986 Wimbledon Championships, achieving a career-high ranking of world No. 19 in October 1987.

Tennis career

Živojinović represented SFR Yugoslavia as the number 15 seed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where he was defeated in the second round by France's Guy Forget.

The right-hander won two career singles titles (Houston, 1986 and Sydney, 1988), as well as eight doubles titles. He reached his highest singles ATP ranking on 26 October 1987, when he became world No. 19. Živojinović was known for his tall, wiry frame that made him the original big-boom server before Goran Ivanisevic.[5] He built his game on his big serve, enhanced greatly by his height and his muscular thighs. He was an exciting player to watch and a very troubling one to play against. His ace total in a match often became difficult to overcome, with the result that no one looked forward to playing against him.[6]

Živojinović's most notable Grand Slam results were two semifinals. As an unseeded player at the 1985 Australian Open, he memorably beat John McEnroe in a five-set quarterfinal to reach the semifinals (where he lost in straight sets to Mats Wilander). The next year, at the 1986 Wimbledon semifinal, again as an unseeded player, he lost to Ivan Lendl in a five-set match.

Over the course of his career, Živojinović amassed an overall singles record of 150 wins and 138 defeats. He was much more successful in doubles competition, winning the US Open in 1986 with Andrés Gómez. The same year, he won three more tournaments. He was ranked as the world No. 1 doubles player on 8 September 1986.

Career finals

Singles (2–2)
Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Tour (2–2)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Mar 1985 Nancy, France Carpet (i) Tim Wilkison 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 7–9
Win 1–1 Nov 1986 Houston, United States Carpet (i) Scott Davis 6–1, 4–6, 6–3
Loss 1–2 May 1988 Forest Hills, United States Clay Andre Agassi 5–7, 6–7(2–7), 5–7
Win 2–2 Oct 1988 Sydney, Australia Hard (i) Richard Matuszewski 7–6(10–8), 6–3, 6–4

Doubles (8–6)
Legend
Grand Slam (1)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Tour (7)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jul 1985 Boston, United States Hard Libor Pimek Peter McNamara
Paul McNamee		 2–6, 6–4, 7–6
Loss 1–1 Nov 1985 Wembley, UK Carpet (i) Boris Becker Guy Forget
Anders Järryd		 5–7, 6–4, 5–7
Win 2–1 Mar 1986 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) Boris Becker John Fitzgerald
Tomáš Šmíd		 7–6, 7–5
Win 3–1 Mar 1986 Rotterdam, Netherlands Carpet (i) Stefan Edberg Wojciech Fibak
Matt Mitchell		 2–6, 6–3, 6–2
Loss 2–3 May 1986 Forest Hills, US Clay Boris Becker Hans Gildemeister
Andrés Gómez		 6–7, 6–7
Loss 3–3 Aug 1986 Toronto, Canada Hard Boris Becker Chip Hooper
Mike Leach		 7–6, 3–6, 3–6
Win 4–3 Aug 1986 US Open, New York Hard Andrés Gómez Joakim Nyström
Mats Wilander		 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3
Loss 4–4 Oct 1986 Vienna, Austria Carpet (i) Brad Gilbert Ricardo Acioly
Wojciech Fibak		 walkover
Loss 4–5 Nov 1986 Stockholm, Sweden Hard Pat Cash Sherwood Stewart
Kim Warwick		 4–6, 4–6
Win 5–5 Mar 1987 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) Boris Becker Chip Hooper
Michael Leach		 7–6, 7–6
Win 6–5 Mar 1987 Milan, Italy Carpet (i) Boris Becker Sergio Casal
Emilio Sánchez		 3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win 7–5 Oct 1988 Tokyo, Japan Carpet (i) Andrés Gómez Boris Becker
Eric Jelen		 7–5, 5–7, 6–3
Loss 7–6 Oct 1989 Tokyo, Japan Carpet (i) Andrés Gómez Kevin Curren
David Pate		 6–4, 3–6, 6–7
Win 8–6 Feb 1990 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) Emilio Sánchez Goran Ivanišević
Balázs Taróczy		 7–5, 6–3

Team competitions (1)
No. Date Team competition Surface Partner/Team Opponents Score
1. May 1990 World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany Clay Goran Ivanišević
Goran Prpić		 Jim Courier
Brad Gilbert
Ken Flach
Robert Seguso		 2–1

Grand Slam singles performance timeline
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
Tournament1982198319841985198619871988198919901991Career SR
Australian Open A A A SF NH 3R 3R 2R 1R Q2 0 / 6
French Open 1R A 2R 2R 1R 1R 3R 1R 1R A 0 / 8
Wimbledon A A A 2R SF QF 4R 4R 1R 1R 0 / 7
US Open A A A 1R 1R 3R 1R 1R A A 0 / 5
Grand Slam SR 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 2 0 / 26

Personal life

Živojinović was engaged to Zorica Desnica whom he has a son Filip with. The couple broke up before getting married.

In 1991, Živojinović married Yugoslav folk singer Fahreta Jahić (known professionally as Lepa Brena). Their wedding on 7 December 1991 was a media event throughout the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The lavish ceremony took place at Belgrade's InterContinental Hotel with Ion Țiriac as the groom's best man. The level of interest in the event was such that Brena's manager Raka Đokić released a VHS tape of the wedding for commercial exploitation.[7]

The couple have two sons — Stefan (born in New York City in May 1992) and Viktor. On Thursday, 23 November 2000, 8-year-old Stefan was kidnapped by members of Zemun mafia clan and returned on Tuesday five days later on the side of Belgrade–Niš highway for the ransom sum reported to be more than DM 2 million.[8]

References
  1. "'BOBO' LOSES NAME GAME, Won't FACE 'BOOM, BOOM' » Mitch Albom". 21 November 2008.
  2. "Have a special feeling for India: Slobodan". telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  3. "Davis Cup: Wider and wiser, 'Bobo' returns to India after 26 years". The Indian Express. 11 September 2014.
  4. Allen, JA. "Pete Sampras and the Top 25 Servers in the History of Men's Tennis". Bleacher Report.
  5. Naik, Shivani (2014-09-11). "Davis Cup: Wider and wiser, 'Bobo' returns to India after 26 years". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 2022-07-30.
  6. Allen, JA. "Pete Sampras and the Top 25 Servers in the History of Men's Tennis". Bleacher Report.
  7. Svadba decenije, novosti.rs. Accessed 5 February 2024.
  8. "Stefan predat na niškom autoputu", Glas-javnosti.rs, 1 December 2000.
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