Quick Facts
LeoBiography
Ilija Bozoljac (Serbian Cyrillic: Илија Бозољац, [ǐlija boˈzǒːʎats]; born 2 August 1985) is a Serbian professional tennis player and coach.
On 29 January 2007, Bozoljac reached his best singles ranking of world No. 101. On 22 February 2016, he peaked at world No. 99 in the doubles rankings.
Bozoljac's strongest weapon is a very powerful serve that he can hit at up to 245 km/h (152 mph), along with powerful groundstrokes.
He is a coach of Bosnian-Herzegovian tennis player Damir Džumhur. His nickname is Bozo.
Professional career
2006
2006 was arguably Bozoljac's best year. In January, he had his best result at the ATP level in Zagreb, beating no. 170 Dudi Sela to qualify, and then beating no. 77 Daniele Bracciali and no. 34 Feliciano López, before losing to no. 81 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
2008
In May, Bozoljac narrowly missed qualifying into the 2008 French Open, losing to no. 75 Eduardo Schwank in the qualifying round.
In June, Bozoljac entered the main draw of 2008 Wimbledon as a lucky loser, after beating Nick Monroe and Robert Smeets, but losing to Stefano Galvani in the qualifying round in five sets.
2010
Bozoljac qualified for Wimbledon and progressed to the second round, where he was defeated in four tight sets by defending champion Roger Federer.
He was a reserve player on the Serbia Davis Cup team when they won the Davis Cup title.
2013
Bozoljac began 2013 by returning to the ITF Men's circuit, taking three singles titles in the opening three months.
In April, Ilija and his doubles partner Nenad Zimonjić beat Bob and Mike Bryan in the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals against the United States, winning 7–6, 7–6, 5–7, 4–6, 15–13 in a performance described by Sports Illustrated as "Bozo goes Beast Mode...there was Bozoljac playing out of his mind in a five-set win that left everyone shaking their heads". Bozoljac was praised by the Bryan brothers and by U.S. team captain Jim Courier, who said "Let's all tip our hats to his performance. We had him 15-30 a couple times, and the guy came up with some incredible shots."
Style of play
Bozoljac is known for his unique style of play. He often changes the way he performs forehands and backhands, hitting double-handed forehands and single-handed backhands. He also has a strong serve, but he has to limit the strength of his serve due to a back injury. Nevertheless, he still serves well over 200 km/h.
Personal life
Bozoljac was born on August, 2, 1985 in Aleksandrovac, Serbia, to Jelena and Miroljub Bozoljac. He started playing tennis in TK Partizan in Belgrade and turned pro in 2002. He's married to Andrijana Basarić since 2011 and they have two daughters named Lola (b. 2012) and Nika (b. 2015). They live in Belgrade, Serbia.
Team competition finals
| Outcome | No. | Date | Team competition | Surface | Partner/Team | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | November 15–17, 2013 | Davis Cup, Belgrade, Serbia | Hard (i) | Novak Djokovic Dušan Lajović Nenad Zimonjić | Tomáš Berdych Radek Štěpánek Lukáš Rosol Jan Hájek | 2–3 |
ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 25 (13–12)
| Legend |
|---|
| ATP Challenger Tour (4–10) |
| ITF Futures (9–2) |
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 22 August 2005 | Bukhara, Uzbekistan | Hard | Denis Istomin | 4–6, 7–6, 5–6 ret. |
| Runner-up | 2. | 10 July 2006 | Poznań, Poland | Clay | Jan Hájek | 4–6, 3–6 |
| Winner | 3. | 4 September 2006 | Donetsk, Ukraine | Clay | Tomáš Cakl | 6–4, 3–6, 7–5 |
| Runner-up | 4. | 22 October 2007 | Rimouski, Canada | Carpet (i) | Brendan Evans | 7–6, 4–6, 4–6 |
| Winner | 5. | 8 September 2008 | Ljubljana, Slovenia | Clay | Giancarlo Petrazzuolo | 6–4, 6–3 |
| Winner | 6. | 15 September 2008 | Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina | Clay | Daniel Gimeno-Traver | 6–4, 6–4 |
| Runner-up | 7. | 1 June 2009 | Nottingham, Great Britain | Grass | Brendan Evans | 7–6, 4–6, 6–7 |
| Runner-up | 8. | 12 October 2009 | Tiburon, California, United States | Hard | Go Soeda | 6–3, 3–6, 2–6 |
| Runner-up | 9. | 9 November 2009 | Knoxville, Tennessee, United States | Hard (i) | Taylor Dent | 3–6, 6–7 |
| Runner-up | 10. | 15 February 2010 | Belgrade, Serbia | Carpet (i) | Karol Beck | 5–7, 6–7 |
| Runner-up | 11. | July 11, 2011 | Aptos, United States | Hard | Laurynas Grigelis | 2–6, 6–7 |
| Runner-up | 12. | September 29, 2013 | Fergana, Uzbekistan | Hard | Radu Albot | 6–7, 7–6, 1–6 |
| Winner | 13. | February 15, 2014 | Kolkata, India | Hard | Evgeny Donskoy | 6–1, 6–1 |
| Runner-up | 14. | July 20, 2014 | Recanati, Italy | Hard | Gilles Müller | 1–6, 2–6 |
Doubles: 27 (17–10)
| Legend |
|---|
| ATP Challenger (15–7) |
| ITF Futures (2–3) |
| Result | Date | Tournament | Category | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|
Performance timeline
Singles
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | A | NH |
Current through the 2015 Banja Luka Challenger.
| Tournament | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | |||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | Q2 | 2R | A | Q1 | Q1 | Q2 | A | A | Q2 | Q1 | 1–1 | |
| French Open | A | A | A | 2R | Q1 | Q3 | 1R | Q2 | Q1 | A | A | Q1 | A | 1–2 | |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | Q2 | Q1 | 2R | Q2 | 2R | Q1 | A | A | Q1 | A | 2–2 | |
| US Open | A | A | A | Q2 | Q1 | Q1 | A | Q3 | Q3 | A | A | Q1 | A | 0–0 | |
| Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 4–5 | |
| National representation | |||||||||||||||
| Davis Cup | Z2 | A | A | PO | PO | A | 1R | Alt | SF | QF | F | 1R | A | 3–2 | |
| Win–Loss | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 | |
| ATP Masters Series 1000 | |||||||||||||||
| Indian Wells Masters | A | A | A | A | Q1 | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | |
| Monte-Carlo Masters | A | A | A | A | Q2 | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | |
| Madrid Open | A | A | A | Q2 | A | A | A | Q1 | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | |
| Canadian Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Q1 | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | |
| Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | |
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Tournaments | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |
| Overall Win–Loss | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–5 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 11–20 | |
| Year-end ranking | 834 | 567 | 207 | 136 | 182 | 141 | 183 | 149 | 227 | 485 | 237 | 207 | 852 | 35% | |
Held as Hamburg Masters (outdoor clay) until 2008, Madrid Masters (outdoor clay) 2009 – present.
Doubles
Current through 2018 Wimbledon Championships.
| Tournament | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | |
| French Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | 1–4 | |
| US Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | ||
| Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–4 | |
| National representation | ||||||||||||||||||
| Davis Cup | Z2 | A | A | PO | PO | A | 1R | Alt | SF | QF | F | 1R | A | A | A | 4–6 | ||
| Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 4–6 | |
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tournaments | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 12 | |
| Overall Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 9–18 | |
| Year-end ranking | 545 | 817 | 339 | 255 | 468 | 171 | 489 | 136 | 446 | 900 | 282 | 254 | 110 | 640 | 333 | 33% | ||