User:Avatar5991/Serbian performance at the 2008 Australian Open

The 2008 Australian Open was best known for the excellent performance of Serbian players throughout the tournament. Their performances were a big boost for a country which was almost torn apart by war barely ten years ago, and raised hopes of Grand Slam success for the country.

Background
Serbian players enjoyed mixed results throughout 2007, with Novak Djokovic reaching three consecutive semi-finals, the latter of which he converted into his first Grand Slam final, losing the US Open final to Roger Federer, Ana Ivanovic reaching her first Grand Slam final at the French Open and reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon and Jelena Janković reaching the fourth round or better in each of her Grand Slam appearances, including a semi-final appearance at the French Open and a quarter-final at the US Open. At the French Open, all three reached the semi-finals, losing to eventual champions: Djokovic to Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals and Janković and Ivanovic to Justine Henin in the semi-finals and final respectively. It was the nation's best showing at a Grand Slam.

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic became the first Serbian man to reach the quarter-finals of any Grand Slam tournament when he reached the quarter-finals of the 2006 French Open, retiring injured to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. Later he became the first Serbian man to reach the semi-finals at four consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, losing to Nadal at the 2007 French Open and Wimbledon before defeating David Ferrer to reach his first Grand Slam final at the US Open, which he lost to Roger Federer. In his fourth consecutive Grand Slam semi-final, he defeated the defending champion Federer to reach his second Grand Slam final, before going on to defeat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final to become the first Serb, male or female, to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Djokovic's previous best result at the Australian Open was reaching the fourth round in 2007, when he lost to eventual champion Roger Federer in straight sets. His debut Grand Slam tournament was the 2005 Australian Open, where he was heavily defeated in the first round by eventual champion Marat Safin.

Janko Tipsarević
Another player of note during the 2008 Australian Open was Janko Tipsarević. He is best known for almost defeating Roger Federer in his third round match, losing in five sets: 7–6 (7–5), 6–7 (1–7) , 7–5, 1–6, 8–10. His previous best result at the Australian Open was reaching the second round in 2005 and 2006. To date, he has never reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, though he has reached the quarter-finals of the US Open twice, and in 2012 he repeated his best performance at the Australian Open, reaching the third round.

Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanovic became the first Serb, male or female, to reach the quarter-finals of any Grand Slam tournament when she reached the quarter-finals of the 2005 French Open as a 17-year-old, losing to Nadia Petrova. Along the way, she defeated third seed Amélie Mauresmo in the third round and Francesca Schiavone in the fourth round.

Ivanovic reached her first Grand Slam final at the 2007 French Open, where she was defeated by Justine Henin. She followed this up with a semi-final performance at Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Venus Williams, and finished the year with a then-career high rank of World No. 4. Ivanovic's previous best performance at the Australian Open was the third round, which she reached in 2005 (her debut Grand Slam tournament) and 2007. The 2008 tournament marked her best performance at the tournament, where she reached the final, losing to Maria Sharapova. This left her with a 0–2 record in Grand Slam finals, although she would go on to win the French Open later in the year.

Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković became the first Serb, male or female, to reach the semi-finals of any Grand Slam tournament when she reached the semi-finals of the 2006 US Open, losing to Justine Henin-Hardenne in three sets. She enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2007, reaching the semi-finals at the French Open and reaching the quarter-finals of the US Open, losing to Justine Henin and Venus Williams respectively, and reaching a then-career high of World No. 3.

Janković enjoyed her best ever run at the Australian Open in reaching the semi-finals, however she had to save match points to beat Tamira Paszek in the first round and in the fourth round she met Australian player Casey Dellacqua in the fourth round, winning in straight sets after being pushed in a first set tiebreak. She then went on to defeat defending champion Serena Williams in the quarter-finals, before losing her semi-final to eventual champion Maria Sharapova. Janković's previous best result at the Australian Open was reaching the fourth round in 2007, when she lost to the eventual champion and then-World No. 81 Serena Williams.

After the 2008 Australian Open
Serbia would enjoy continued success at the 2008 French Open, with Novak Djokovic reaching the semi-finals in the men's tournament and Ana Ivanovic winning her first Grand Slam singles title in the women's tournament. Ivanovic met compatriot Jelena Janković in the semi-finals and won 6–4, 3–6, 6–4 in a match which would decide which of the two would become the first player from Serbia to hold the World No. 1 ranking. Janković was the only player to take a set off Ivanovic during the entire tournament.

However, the country would under-perform at Wimbledon, with Novak Djokovic losing in only the second round to World No. 75 Marat Safin, in the process suffering his earliest exit at a Grand Slam since 2006. Only twenty days after lifting the French Open trophy, Ana Ivanovic, the top seed, was stunned in the third round by Chinese wildcard entrant and World No. 133 Zheng Jie; this was the earliest exit at Wimbledon by a top seed since Martina Hingis lost in the first round in 2001. Jelena Janković was the only Serb to even go far, but she lost in the fourth round to Tamarine Tanasugarn.

After winning the 2008 French Open, Ana Ivanovic became the first Serb, male or female, to hold the World No. 1 ranking, however her reign would only last for a total of 12 weeks, just avoiding Venus Williams' record of 11 weeks for being the shortest reigning World No. 1 since 2000. Jelena Janković would then inherit the ranking for 18 weeks, 17 of them consecutively from 6 October 2008 to 2 February 2009. As of 2012, however, Janković has yet to win a Grand Slam singles title. It wasn't until after winning Wimbledon in 2011 that Novak Djokovic would finally inherit the ATP's World No. 1 ranking, holding it for 53 weeks consecutively from 4 July 2011 until 9 July 2012.