Ana Ivanovic came to Mannheim, Germany on Saturday in order to support a charity event organized by Steffi Graf as part of her foundation called “Children for Tomorrow”. Ivanovic was supposed to play a doubles exhibition match with Andre Agassi, Goran Ivanisevic and Justine Henin, but, to her surprise, she ended up playing singles against Agassi!

Ivanovic described the match as one of the most amazing experiences of her life. She was very nervous before the match, but relaxed quickly after the play had started. Ana also said that both of them took the match seriously, even though it was only an exhibition (BTW, it was a tiebreak, which Agassi won 7-4).

Most importantly, Agassi was willing to give Ana some valuable pieces of advice. “Andre was so friendly. He gave me some great advice, both tactical and mental, that I am sure is going to help me in the future,” the 19-year-old Serb said.

Ivanovic is now preparing for the Sony Ericsson Championships which will take place in Madrid from November 6-11.

Three seeded players, Amelie Mauresmo, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, fell in the second round of the $1,340,000 Zurich Open on Wednesday.

Former world number one and eighth seed Amelie Mauresmo, who has struggled since an appendectomy in March, was defeated by Alona Bondarenko 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

"I have to gain confidence by winning matches like this one but it didn't happen. And physically I'm just not at the level I've been the last several years," Mauresmo said. Read more »

I’m sure many of you are interested in the training methods Ana Ivanovic employs and what her regular day looks like. At a beautifully designed adidas Women website Ana gave us the answers to those questions. The Roland Garros finalist demonstrated two exercises she uses to improve her reflexes, and in an exclusive interview you can read some facts about her life and career of a tennis star (I’ve singled out just the part about her daily routine).

Exercise 1: Increases reaction speed + trains split vision

Ivanovic catches the balls and throws them back to her coach.

Read more »

Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic was stunned by Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2 1-6 6-3 Thursday at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

46th-ranked Bondarenko showed no signs of scare while playing against the world number five, she played as if she were a top-ten player. It’s a fact that Ivanovic didn’t play her best tennis, but I think that it’s more Bondarenko’s brilliance, than Ivanovic’s errors that decided the winner. While watching the match, I felt like watching two even players. Ivanovic had a chance, in the third set she had a break point, and she even impressively fought off two match points. However, this wasn’t enough to turn the situation to her advantage and defeat inspired Kateryna Bondarenko.

Bondarenko’s opponent in the quarterfinals is Tatiana Golovin of France. Ivanovic’s next tournament is the Zurich Open, which begins on October 15.

Second seed Ana Ivanovic once again demonstrated her supreme mental strength as she fought back from a 3-6, 0-3 deficit to defeat fourth seed Daniela Hantuchova 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the FORTIS Championships Luxembourg.

The 19-year-old from Belgrade had triumphed in Berlin and Los Angeles earlier in the year.

Ivanovic credited the support of the crowd for helping her to get through the second set and make such a comeback. Besides the amazing spectators, Ivanovic’s change of strategy played an important role: "I told myself when I was 3-0 down in the second set that I needed to be more aggressive. It was a riskier approach but better that way, and it worked for me." (photo via TSF)