Slobodan Živojinović

Infobox Tennis player
playername= Slobodan Živojinović


nickname= Boba
country= YUG
residence= Belgrade, Serbia
datebirth= July 23, 1963
placebirth= Belgrade, Serbia
(then Yugoslavia)
height= 6 ft 6 in (198 cm)
weight= 220 lb (99 kg)
turnedpro= 1981
retired= 1992
plays= Right-handed
careerprizemoney= $ 1,450,654
singlesrecord= 150–138
singlestitles= 2
highestsinglesranking= 19 (October 26, 1987)
AustralianOpenresult= SF (1985)
FrenchOpenresult= 3R (1988)
Wimbledonresult= SF (1986), QF (1987)
USOpenresult= 3R (1987)
doublesrecord= 151–102
doublestitles= 8
highestdoublesranking= 1 (September 8, 1986)
updated=

Slobodan Živojinović ( _sr. Слободан Живојиновић; born on July 23, 1963 in Belgrade) is a retired Serbian tennis player who competed for SFR Yugoslavia. He is also the husband of folk singer Lepa Brena.

Tennis career

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

The righthander won two career singles titles (Houston, 1986 and Sydney, 1988), as well as eight doubles titles. He reached his highest singles ATP ranking on October 26, 1987, when he became the number 19 in the world.

Živojinović's most notable Grand Slam results were two semifinals. At the 1985 Australian Open, as an unseeded player, he memorably beat John McEnroe in a gruelling 5-set quarterfinal to reach the semis where he lost in straight sets to Mats Wilander. Next year, 1986, he reached the Wimbledon semifinal, again as an unseeded player, losing to Ivan Lendl in a hard fought five-set match.

Over the course of his career, he amassed an overall singles record of 150 wins and 138 defeats. He was much more successful in doubles competition winning the U.S. Open in 1986 with Andrés Gómez. In the same year he won 3 more tournaments and was ranked as the No. 1 doubles player in the world on September 8, 1986.

Career Titles (10)

ingles (2)

Grand Slam Singles performance timeline

*A = did not participate in the tournament
*NH = tournament not held
*SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

Personal

Živojinović was married to Zorica Nakić with whom he has a son Filip. In 1991, Živojinović divorced her and married popular folk singer Lepa Brena.

Though undeniably well-known for his tennis, Živojinović's media prominence, especially in the years since his retirement, also owes a lot to his marriage to Lepa Brena, at one point Yugoslavia's biggest commercial folk singing star. Their wedding on December 7, 1991 was a supreme media event throughout the then still existing Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The lavish ceremony took place at Belgrade's InterContinental Hotel with Ion Ţiriac as the groom's best man. The level of interest in the event was such that Brena's manager Raka Đokić even released a VHS tape of the wedding for commercial exploitation. [ [http://www.novosti.co.yu/code/navigate.php?Id=16&status=jedna&datum=2006-09-21&feljton=5485 Svadba decenije] ] Their very public relationship has been providing steady fodder for various yellow media publications ever since.

The couple have two sons - Stefan (born in New York City during May 1992) and Viktor. In the afternoon hours of Thursday, November 23, 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 DM2 million. [ [http://arhiva.glas-javnosti.co.yu/arhiva/2000/12/01/srpski/H00113005.shtm Stefan predat na niškom autoputu, "Glas javnosti", December 1, 2000] ]

Throughout 2005 and 2006 there have been numerous tabloid reports about Živojinović's supposed infidelity and bad state of his marriage. Finally, in April 2006 he reportedly even moved out of the family home following yet another argument with Brena. [ [http://www.index.hr/xmag/clanak.aspx?id=312960 Boba ostavio Lepu Brenu, index.hr, April 5, 2006] ] Though the reports of a separation were frequent and detailed, [ [http://www.svet.co.yu/?state=3&izdanje=2&broj=460&clanak=9396 "Svet", April 13, 2006] ] the couple still remain together.

References

External links

*ATP|id=Z006

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