Ljubicic makes an impression

By Jon Wertheim, Sports Illustrated

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- In this star-driven sport, it's entirely too easy to overlook the rank-and-file players -- the Tom, Dick and Gaston -- the fodder for the headliners. How many miles do you suppose Jerome Golmard would log were he to walk down the main drag in your town until he got noticed? When was the last time you read a story about Paola Suarez? Raise your hand if you know the first thing about Rainer Schuetler. (For that matter, raise your hand if you noticed that I just misspelled his name.)

Every now and then, a Tatiana Garbin takes a turn in the spotlight, and there are a handful of players like Arnaud Clement who emerge from obscurity after a few years of toiling south of the notoriety border. But for the most part, after the top 10 players, your surname better be Kournikova for anyone to care much about you. A shame, this, because it's often the players on the right side of the d. notation who have the more interesting history. "If there were better marketing in tennis, people would realize that every player -- not just the stars -- has a story to tell," Nicole Pratt, a typical day laborer, told me recently.

Case in point: Andre Agassi's sacrificial quarterfinal opponent Friday, 87th-ranked Ivan Ljubicic, whose story reads like a movie treatment. A lucky loser, Ljubicic only made it into the main draw when former champ Richard Krajicek pulled out at the 11th hour with an injury. The 22-year-old made the most of his reprieve, beating Magnus Norman and Carlos Moya to reach the quarters. His ration of good fortune ran out Friday, as he gave Agassi a solid workout before falling 6-4, 6-4. But as Ljubicic was quick to point out, his similarities with Agassi don't extend much further than their premature hair loss.

Though Croatian, Ljubicic was living in the Serb capital of Banja Luka when the Balkan crisis escalated. He, his mother and his older brother escaped on a plane and then took a bus to Belgrade. (Ljubicic says that he was later told by an acquaintance in the Croatian military that the plane was supposed to have been shot down for violating air space.) His father stayed behind, and the rest of the family didn't hear from him for six weeks. That was the fall of 1992.

A year later, Ljubicic's talent for hitting a tennis ball became apparent. His father gave him a choice: "Play tennis or go to school, because in Croatia it's not like you can go play in college." He chose Door No. 1, which meant leaving his family at age 14 and moving to Italy to train at a club. Beset by a foreign tongue, a monthly budget of $50 and bouts of homesickness, he persevered and tried to make it home every few months. As he pointed out Friday, it's not exactly Andy Roddick's teenage experience. Then again, maybe it will aid him in the long run. "When you are going for the ace from the second serve," he says, "maybe I'm not shaking as badly" as players who grew up with more advantages.

Fate started to cut him some slack when he turned pro in 1998. After three years, he had beaten players like Mark Philippoussis and Yevgeny Kafelniknov and won nearly $500,000. This week alone, he took home $64,640 and, more important, stockpiled enough points to avoid the qualifying draws for awhile. Ljubicic has a booming serve, a nifty one- handed backhand, and he takes chances. But as Agassi pointed out after the match, "I haven't seen a lot of consistent results, which leads me to ask a few questions that I wouldn't be able to answer."

Here are some we'll pose and answer: Is Ljubicic a future Wimbledon champ? Probably not. Does he have the game to gain more recognition? Perhaps. Is he among the many little-known players worth supporting next time you happen across his name on a drawsheet? Absolutely.

Short volleys

Philippoussis underwent surgery on his left knee Friday for the third time in two years. He'll be out at least six weeks. ... Roddick would like you to know that he picked Michigan State to win the NCAA tournament weeks ago. ... Jennifer Capriati celebrated her 25th birthday a day late by waxing a torpid Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0 Friday afternoon. Don't look now, but Dementieva has yet to win her first pro tournament. ... Before wrapping up Friday's match, Agassi had played a total of 13 minutes of tennis over the past three days.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim covers the tennis beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.

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