On February 6, 2011, Ivan Dodig hit an ace to defeat Michael Berrer and claim his first ATP Tour singles title in front of his home fans in Zagreb. At least, that’s what the Croat thought.
Dodig threw his racket into the crowd and walked to the net thinking the match was over. Chair umpire Cedric Mourier, now ATP supervisor, told the judge it had been a let.
“I thought, ‘No way’. I couldn’t believe it,” Dodig told ATPTour.com. “It was a hectic situation because I threw the racket and I had to ask the guy to please give me the racket back. I lost the next point and it was Deuce. Somehow I managed to finish the match. I was lucky. I always thought about it. Imagine if I lost that match, it would have been a disaster.”
Instead, Dodig secured a 6-3, 6-4 win for his only tour-level singles trophy and has forged a memorable career in singles and doubles in the fifteen years since. The proud 40-year-old, who reached No. 29 in the PIF ATP Rankings, No. 2 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings and won 24 tour-level doubles titles, has retired.
“At the beginning of the year I was considering my options. And during the year, after a few months, I had already decided and the people around me knew that this would be my last year,” Dodig said. “But I didn’t pay much attention to that, and now, at the end of the last few months, I decided and finally started telling the close friends that this would be my last year.”
Having accomplished a lot in his career in both singles and doubles, Dodig felt it was a good time to hang up his racket.
“Usually players break the Top 100 at the age of 20, 21. I broke the Top 100 [when I was] almost 24. But then I stayed there for a long time, 15, 16 years,” Dodig said. “I accomplished a lot of things and played so much tennis in singles and doubles. So it’s quite a long career for me, I’m very happy with it and I’ve had a lot of fun all these years.”
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Dodig is from Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the same small town as former world number 3 Marin Cilic. Dodig is almost four years older than Cilic, but they grew up together and are best friends.
Their city is known more for religious pilgrimages than athletics. When Dodig and Cilic were growing up, the only tennis player they could see on television was Goran Ivanisevic.
“We are all like that [fell] we fell in love with tennis and we started dreaming,” Dodig recalls.
Cilic moved to Zagreb at a young age to pursue his dreams and later trained under the tutelage of Bob Brett. He reached great heights in the sport, winning a major title at the 2014 US Open, but never let go of his relationship with Dodig. They even won the silver medal together in the men’s doubles at the Tokyo Olympics.
“We should be proud. It is a special story and a special gift. We received it from beginning to end [spent] We spent a lot of time talking about it together,” Dodig said. “It’s special and not that many people know it, but the journey we went on was different from so many others and we’re proud of that. We have motivated so many children here in the region to play tennis. And even now, to see so many children playing tennis thanks to us is great.”
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The same year he triumphed in Zagreb, Dodig stunned then world number 2 Rafael Nadal 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Canada. The Croatian also scored several victories against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Milos Raonic and Cilic, and defeated Kei Nishikori, among others.
“I’ve had a great singles career, I have to admit,” Dodig said. “So many good wins, great memories.”
During his singles career, Dodig excelled in doubles. Eventually, his back began to bother him and he played his last singles match at tour level in July 2017, switching to doubles.
The Croatian won three majors in men’s doubles, claiming glory at Roland Garros in 2015 with Marcelo Melo, at the Australian Open in 2021 with Filip Polasek and at Roland Garros in 2023 with Austin Krajicek. Dodig won six Masters 1000 titles and appeared in the Nitto ATP Finals nine times with four different partners: Melo, Marcel Granollers, Polasek and Krajicek.
“I think I made a great, great decision at the time,” Dodig said. “I extended my career in doubles for another seven or eight years and enjoyed great success in doubles with great partners.”
Krajicek, with whom Dodig won the Year-End ATP Doubles No. in 2023. 1, presented by PIF Honors, said: “What a great career he has had. He is someone I have looked up to for a long time, and obviously I have enormous respect for him.” [It has been a privilege] to be a small part of his journey and play alongside him and really feel like he’s almost family to me. We had a great time playing together and had a lot of success. It’s great to see someone like Ivan, who has been such a role model for so many young boys coming into the sport, and upholding such a high standard of work ethic and grit has been great to see throughout his career. I have always had enormous respect for Ivan and obviously wish him nothing but the best for the future.”
As for Dodig, the 40-year-old hopes he has made a difference for the next generation.
“I hope that through my sports career I have motivated some children to find a way and look for their dreams. Hopefully they can also try to make their dreams come true and if I motivate them a little, I am very proud and happy,” said Dodig. “I have always given everything on the tennis court – for myself, for my family, for the community and for the people who love tennis and try to be professional. I have given everything and I am very happy and satisfied.”
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