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Ilija Bozoljac

Column 1

Yugoslavia (2002–2003) Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2006) Serbia (2006–2018)
Belgrade, Serbia
(1985-08-02) 2 August 1985Aleksandrovac, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
2002
2018
Right-handed (two-handed both sides, occasionally one-handed forehand)
Daniel Meyers
$742,198
11–20
0
No. 101 (29 January 2007)
2R (2007)
2R (2006)
2R (2008, 2010)
Q3 (2010, 2011)
9–18
0
No. 99 (22 February 2016)
2R (2017)
F (2013)
Last updated on: 29 October 2018.

Ilija Bozoljac (Serbian Cyrillic: Илија Бозољац, .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}pronounced [ǐlija boˈzǒːʎats]; born 2 August 1985) is a former Serbian professional tennis player and coach. Bozoljac achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 101 on 29 January 2007. In doubles, he reached a career-best ranking of world No. 99 on 22 February 2016. He is commonly known by the nickname Bozo.

Bozoljac achieved his best ATP-level result at Zagreb, defeating world No. 170 Dudi Sela in the qualifying rounds. In the main draw, he secured victories over world No. 77 Daniele Bracciali and world No. 34 Feliciano López, before losing in the quarterfinals to world No. 81 Novak Djokovic.

In May, Bozoljac narrowly missed qualifying for the 2008 French Open, losing to no. 75 Eduardo Schwank in the qualifying round.

In June, Bozoljac entered the main draw of the 2008 Wimbledon Championships as a lucky loser. He had defeated Nick Monroe and Robert Smeets in qualifying but lost to Stefano Galvani in five sets.

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.

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(5), 7–6(1), 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."

Bozoljac was known for his powerful serve, which could reach speeds of up to 245 km/h (152 mph), as well as his aggressive groundstrokes. His playing style was distinctive, often alternating between a double-handed forehand and a single-handed backhand. A back injury later forced him to moderate his serve, though he continued to exceed 200 km/h (120 mph) during his career.

Bozoljac was born on 2 August 1985, in Aleksandrovac, Serbia, Serbia, to Jelena and Miroljub Bozoljac. He started playing tennis in TK Partizan in Belgrade and turned pro in 2002. He has been married to Andrijana Basarić since 2011, and they have two daughters named Lola (b. 2012) and Nika (b. 2015). They live in Belgrade, Serbia.

Result	No.	Date	Team competition	Surface	Partner/Team	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	Nov 2013	Davis Cup, Belgrade, Serbia	Hard (i)	Novak Djokovic Dušan Lajović Nenad Zimonjić	Tomáš Berdych Radek Štěpánek Lukáš Rosol Jan Hájek	2–3

Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (4–10)
ITF Futures (9–2)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1.	22 August 2005	Bukhara, Uzbekistan	Hard	Denis Istomin	4–6, 7–6(7–2), 5–6 ret.
Loss	2.	10 July 2006	Poznań, Poland	Clay	Jan Hájek	4–6, 3–6
Win	3.	4 September 2006	Donetsk, Ukraine	Clay	Tomáš Cakl	6–4, 3–6, 7–5
Loss	4.	22 October 2007	Rimouski, Canada	Carpet (i)	Brendan Evans	7–6(7–3), 4–6, 4–6
Win	5.	8 September 2008	Ljubljana, Slovenia	Clay	Giancarlo Petrazzuolo	6–4, 6–3
Win	6.	15 September 2008	Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina	Clay	Daniel Gimeno-Traver	6–4, 6–4
Loss	7.	1 June 2009	Nottingham, Great Britain	Grass	Brendan Evans	7–6(7–4), 4–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss	8.	12 October 2009	Tiburon, California, United States	Hard	Go Soeda	6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Loss	9.	9 November 2009	Knoxville, Tennessee, United States	Hard (i)	Taylor Dent	3–6, 6–7(6–8)
Loss	10.	15 February 2010	Belgrade, Serbia	Carpet (i)	Karol Beck	5–7, 6–7(4–7)
Loss	11.	11 July 2011	Aptos, United States	Hard	Laurynas Grigelis	2–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss	12.	29 September 2013	Fergana, Uzbekistan	Hard	Radu Albot	6–7(9–11), 7–6(7–3), 1–6
Win	13.	15 February 2014	Kolkata, India	Hard	Evgeny Donskoy	6–1, 6–1
Loss	14.	20 July 2014	Recanati, Italy	Hard	Gilles Müller	1–6, 2–6

Legend
ATP Challenger (15–7)
ITF Futures (2–3)

Result	Date	Tournament	Category	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5	Column 6	Column 7	Column 8	Column 9	Column 10
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	DNQ	A	NH

Current through the 2015 Banja Luka Challenger.

1 Held as Hamburg Masters (outdoor clay) until 2008, Madrid Masters (outdoor clay) 2009 – present.

Current through 2018 Wimbledon Championships.

Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 17 September 2021)
Ilija Bozoljac at the Association of Tennis Professionals
Ilija Bozoljac at the International Tennis Federation
Ilija Bozoljac at the Davis Cup (archived)
Ilija Bozoljac at ESPN.com

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