“Very Severe Panic Attacks” – Ana Ivanovic Reveals Shocking Truth About Her Final Years Before Retirement

“During the last years of my career, I experienced very severe panic attacks whenever I had to walk onto the court. I never talked about it, but the panic attacks were incredibly intense. People would wonder what suddenly happened in the middle of a match, why my game would fall apart but the truth is that I’d be overcome by panic and simply couldn’t go on. Then I’d be overwhelmed by the fear of having to go out and play in front of people again the next day,” said Ana Ivanovic.

“Well I start playing when I was five. I watched Monica Seles and I really liked it. I mean, tennis was not very popular in that time, Yugoslavia. So, I liked her aggressive style of the game, and so I told my parents I wanted to play. So for the fifth birthday, my dad bought me a small tennis racket. I wrote down the number of the tennis school and yeah, that’s how I started,” said Ana Ivanovic.

“Exactly. Because in Serbia, a kid start school at seven, so my parents thought it would be really nice. My brother was just one. Okay. So they thought it would be nice. For me to do something. Before school, my mom tried to give me to the dance, but I was definitely not my thing. I was too big for ballet. So, I really liked tennis. My dad played basketball, so, I had this sport in my genes a little bit.”

“So for me, what happened was the people, the coaches started saying that I’m talented. And this is how it started. So of course you don’t think much of this, you know? But then when I was eight, they suggested I should start maybe to play tournaments under 10 and you know, like locally. Yeah. So, and I start to do quite well. I mean, I would beat the girls that are two years older than me.”