Mario Ancic (photo ©ataelw) has announced his retirement from professional competitions because of the recurring mononucleosis that’s been causing him problems for years.

Mario Ancic was born on March 30, 1984, in Split, in the then Yugoslavia, now Croatia.

Mario Ancic began playing tennis as a child and in 1996 he was also a ball boy during the Davis Cup match Croatia – Australia.

Turned pro in 2002, Mario Ancic made a debut with a bang in the Grand Slam tournaments at Wimbledon when he defeated Roger Federer in the first round. Wimbledon has been the Grand Slam tournament that offered him more satisfactions as he reached the semifinals there in 2004.

In 2004, Mario Ancic won the bronze medal at the Athens Olympics in doubles with Ivan Ljubicic. In 2005 he was part of the Croatian team that won the Davis Cup: in the final against Slovakia he won in one of the singles matches and the doubles match again with Ivan Ljubicic.

Over the years Mario Ancic had several good results and in 2005 he won his first tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, confirming that he was a grass player. The following year the Croatian player confirmed his title in the Dutch tournament and he also won the St. Petersburg’s tournament. In 2006 he reached number 7 in the ATP ranking, his best position. Unfortunately a jet skiing accident and a back injury forced him to miss some months of activity.

In 2007 Mario Ancic had the first problems with mononucleosis and the following years became a series of stops for the disease with returns to the activity and occasional injuries. Therefore it’s not surprising that eventually he decided to retire.

Over the years Mario Ancic also continued his studies in law and in 2008 he graduated with a thesis that describes the legal foundation and organization of the ATP Tour. In 2009, during a period in which he had to rest because of mononucleosis, has also started working at a law firm in Zagreb.

Unfortunately we’ll never know what levels Mario Ancic could have reached with his talent without mononucleosis, we can only wish him better luck in his career as a lawyer!