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By Scoop Malinowski

Status: Tennis player won ten career ATP singles titles and a 2004 Olympic bronze medal in doubles. Posted career wins over Safin, Gaudio, Kuerten, Moya, Federer, Agassi, El Aynaoui, Kafelnikov, Henman, Schuettler, and Coria. (This interview was done in 2003 at US Open)

Ht: 6-4 Wt: 182

Born On: March 19, 1979 In: Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Childhood Heroes: “Stefan Edberg was and Michael Jordan – the biggest sportsman ever, I think. I liked Edberg’s style of play. He was always chasing the net and I liked it when I was a kid. And I also tried to play that way. But when you go on as a professional, you can not play the game you like [smiles]. You have to play that you do better. So I liked his person a little too – very quiet. I like him.”

Hobbies/Interests: “Computers and I read a lot of books. And I like to go on internet – as a lot of players – trying to keep in touch with other people with e-mail. It’s not easy, obviously, traveling around the world for almost 40 weeks a year. But as I said, reading a lot of books – I’m a real calm person – I think reading helps me find myself.”

Favorite Movies: “A lot of good movies, obviously. Cast Away is a real nice one and Oceans Eleven is the one I liked too.”

Musical Tastes: “Hard rock, almost metal, so, Metallica, Guns & Roses, Bon Jovi and that type of music.”

Early Tennis Memory: “I started out, it was late, I was 9. I remember the other kids were already competing when I start to learn tennis. So it was kind of difficult for me. First tournament I played, I was 12. And all the other guys had already won titles when they were 12. So that was the bad memories that I had from childhood about tennis [smiles].”

Pre-Match Feeling: “Just trying to be calm. Not thinking about opponent, just try to concern about myself. And I know if I do things right, then I can beat anyone. So I’m concentrating on myself and not thinking about opponent.”

First Job: “Well, that’s playing tennis. That’s the first money that I earned – playing tennis. Right now, that’s the only one. I never did something else.”

First Car: “Blue Ford Focus. And it was really nice one.”

Greatest Sports Moment: “Winning the title in Lyon (2001). The first and the only one, right now. That was the best that ever happened to me. I beat a lot of good guys – Kuerten, Safin, Gaudio and final I beat El Aynaoui.”

Most Painful Moment: “Losing third round in Australian Open last year (2002) against Wayne Ferreira. I was two sets to love up and 5-1 in third. With match points. I don’t know how many. But I had a lot of match points. (What happened?) Just lost [laughs]. Was 7-6 third (set), 7-5 fourth, 7-5 fifth. It was long ride. I played for over four hours. And I really struggled to recover after that one. (How long to get over it?) Well, a long time I would have to say. The match was in my mind for the next month, probably.”

Closest Tennis Friends: “Goran Ivanisevic. He’s the guy that, I mean, I grew up with him. I still talk with him really often. I’m sorry that he’s not around anymore. We have a lot of good times together.”

Funniest Player: “(Nicolas) Escude. He’s just funny. I like to chat with him. He’s really, really a cool guy, I like him a lot.”

Toughest Competitors: “Well, obviously Federer and Roddick now. But Agassi for sure is number one the last ten years. When he’s on top, I don’t think there’s anyone that can beat him except Pete Sampras and he stopped.”

Funny Tennis Memory: “Well, a lot of things, let me think…Goran breaking all the racquets and he had to retire because he had no more. That was really funny. 2000 or 2001 in Brighton, England. Was against Hyung Taik Lee. That was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and we were supposed to play doubles at 6, after the match. So he broke all racquets, he retired from his match, because, they said, ‘Lack of equipment.’ Then he went to the store, just to buy two regular racquets. Then we played doubles afterwards [laughs]. That was a good one. We lost doubles – two tiebreakers (to Barnard and Haygarth).”

People Qualities Most Admired: “Honesty. I think that’s the biggest issue at the moment, all around the world. I see a lot of people doing one thing and saying the other or thinking the third one. That’s for sure something I don’t like. And I think honesty will help us to go out of this mess that is going around the world.”

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