Ana Ivanovic hopes to reach the top

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When the bombings started, Ana Ivanovic and her family dashed into a cellar, where they stayed until it grew quiet.

Until the ground stopped shaking and the windows stood still.

As soon as the smoke cleared, more sirens would go off, forewarning Belgrade residents of more bombings and more days in the cellar.

“It happened a few times, where a bomb exploded close to our place,” Ivanovic said. “One was only about two kilometers away. We could feel the windows shaking.”

Such are the memories of an idyllic 11-year-old Serbian tennis player, who has grown up to be one of the top players in the world.

Ivanovic, who once practiced on a drained swimming pool, is a French Open finalist and the third-seeded player at this week’s East West Bank Classic at The Home Depot Center. But she wants to be more, such as the No. 1 player, and given what she already has overcome, it’s not altogether impossible to imagine.

“That always was a dream of mine ever since I was a young kid,” Ivanovic, 19, said. “I always dreamed of being No. 1 and becoming a top player and winning Grand Slams.

“But at that time, we didn’t have many top players to look up to. Monica Seles had gone to America for rest of her career and it was very hard to find someone to look up to. So we had to follow our instincts and figure out how to do it. So it’s amazing what we have achieved.”

Life was far from normal for Ivanovic in the embattled former nation of Yugoslavia, which became embroiled in a civil war in 1999. Bombings were routine, all-night curfews dictated activities and winning had nothing to do with tennis.

Through it all, Ivanovic found a way to play tennis, which wasn’t always easy given the war and scarcity of tennis courts amid the rubble. And if she and her tennis friends found a court, they had to worry about becoming a target.

“It was scary,” Ivanovic said. “It also was very sad. It was a time when I started practicing with a new coach, one of the best in Yugoslavia and we had to stop because the bombing started.

“Then, after two weeks, we started practicing in the morning when there was less danger.”

Ivanovic credits her mother, Dragana, a lawyer, and her father, Miroslav, an economist, for keeping her life as normal as possible. She said they tried to shield the war’s atrocities from her and her brother.

They also resumed their daily lives as best they could.

“My parents never wanted to put too much stress or talk too much politics about the war,” she said. “We knew what was happening around us, but they tried to keep it low.”

Although the bombings eventually stopped, Ivanovic’s problems persisted. Travel was difficult out of Serbia and athletes had to travel 6-7 hours by bus to Hungary to catch a flight.

Finding practice sites was equally challenging and, as Ivanovic’s game progressed, she needed better facilities. But tennis courts were scarce in Belgrade, especially in winter.

A local club owner came up with a solution, which actually solved two problems. The cost of heating the club’s Olympic-sized pool was prohibitive, so he emptied it and put down carpet.

Next were lines and tennis nets for two makeshift courts. Now the only problem was space.

Ivanovic said it was impossible to hit crosscourt shots because the edge of the court was just 18 inches from the wall, “so we had to keep playing down the lines.”

Fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic also remembered how difficult it was to play on those courts, but said it made them tough and willing to fight on the courts now.

Today, Ivanovic’s powerful ground strokes are among the most solid in the game and a key reason she has shot from No. 97 in 2004 to her current No. 5 world ranking.

Ivanovic is looking forward to getting back her form that landed her in this year’s French Open final, where she lost to Justine Henin, 6-1, 6-2, and the Wimbledon semifinals. She has been out because of a knee injury since losing to eventual champion Venus Williams at Wimbledon. She plays Ashley Harkelroad in a second-round match today.

“To win the tournament this week, that is my goal, but also to get into the rhythm of matches,” she said.