DO YOU REMEMBER -- MARIO ANCIC

 

Mario Ancic was the last player to beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon, and two years ago seemed finally to be finding more in his game than just a big serve. He reached the top ten with a string of solid results in 2006 – Auckland final, Marseille final, Miami and Rome quarterfinals, Hamburg semifinals, French Open quarters, and a title at 's-Hertogenbosch. A Wimbledon quarterfinal took him to his career high. Then – he didn't play again until Beijing. He made the final there, and went on to win Saint Petersburg and make the Paris quarterfinal.

The beginning of 2007 saw him back in the Top Ten again -- but he managed to play only three events before he came down sick with one of those strength-draining bugs. He wasn't able to play again until the Canadian Open, and he missed the U. S. Open, and fell out of the Top Fifty after Saint Petersburg.

It's ironic to note that, even as Ancic's ranking began to drop dramatically, he began returning to form. His record in his last four events of 2007 was 7-4, and be beat Blake once and Mathieu twice in that time. The only question is, can he stay healthy enough to make those results stand up over a full year? Things don’t look too good thus far – he pulled out of both Auckland and the Australian Open with a stomach illness. He made his comeback in Marseille this week by beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.