# Ilija Bozoljac

Ilija Bozoljac (Serbian Cyrillic: Илија Бозољац, pronounced; 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.

## Professional career
### 2006

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.

### 2008

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.

### 2010

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.

### 2013

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."

## Style of play

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.

## Personal life

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.

## Team competition finals

| 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 |

## ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures finals
### Singles: 25 (13–12)

* 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 |

### Doubles: 27 (17–10)

* Legend
* ATP Challenger (15–7)
* ITF Futures (2–3)
| Result | Date | Tournament | Category | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |

## Performance timelines

Key :
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |

### Singles

Current through the 2015 Banja Luka Challenger.
| Tournament | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | W–L |
| Grand Slam tournaments |||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | Q2 | 2R | A | Q1 | Q1 | Q2 | A | A | Q2 | Q1 | 1–1 |
| French Open | A | A | A | 2R | Q1 | Q3 | 1R | Q2 | Q1 | A | A | Q1 | A | 1–2 |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | Q2 | Q1 | 2R | Q2 | 2R | Q1 | A | A | Q1 | A | 2–2 |
| US Open | A | A | A | Q2 | Q1 | Q1 | A | Q3 | Q3 | A | A | Q1 | A | 0–0 |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 4–5 |
| National representation |||||||||||||||
| Davis Cup | Z2 | A | A | PO | PO | A | 1R | Alt | SF | QF | F | 1R | A | 3–2 |
| Win–loss | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 |
| ATP Masters Series 1000 |||||||||||||||
| Indian Wells Masters | A | A | A | A | Q1 | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 |
| Monte-Carlo Masters | A | A | A | A | Q2 | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 |
| Madrid Open$^1$ | A | A | A | Q2 | A | A | A | Q1 | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 |
| Canadian Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Q1 | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Career statistics |||||||||||||||
| Tournaments | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Overall win–loss | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–5 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 11–20 |
| Year-end ranking | 834 | 567 | 207 | 136 | 182 | 141 | 183 | 149 | 227 | 485 | 237 | 207 | 852 | 35% |
$^1$ Held as Hamburg Masters (outdoor clay) until 2008, Madrid Masters (outdoor clay) 2009 – present.

### Doubles

Current through 2018 Wimbledon Championships.
| Tournament | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | W–L |
| Grand Slam tournaments ||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 |
| French Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | 1–4 |
| US Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–4 |
| National representation ||||||||||||||||||
| Davis Cup | Z2 | A | A | PO | PO | A | 1R | Alt | SF | QF | F | 1R | A | A | A | A | 4–6 |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 4–6 |
| Career statistics ||||||||||||||||||
| Tournaments | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| Overall win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 9–18 |
| Year-end ranking | 545 | 817 | 339 | 255 | 468 | 171 | 489 | 136 | 446 | 900 | 282 | 254 | 110 | 640 | 333 | | 33% |