Slobodan Živojinović


Slobodan "Boba" Živojinović is a Serbian former professional tennis player who competed for SFR Yugoslavia.
Together with Nenad Zimonjić, he is the only tennis player from Serbia to be the world No. 1 in doubles. As a singles player, he reached the semifinals of the 1985 Australian Open and the 1986 Wimbledon Championships, achieving a career-high ranking of world No. 19 in October 1987.

Tennis career

Živojinović represented SFR Yugoslavia as the number 15 seed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where he was defeated in the second round by France's Guy Forget.
The right-hander won two career singles titles, as well as eight doubles titles. He reached his highest singles ATP ranking on October 26, 1987, when he became world No. 19.
Živojinović's most notable Grand Slam results were two semifinals. As an unseeded player at the 1985 Australian Open, he memorably beat John McEnroe in a grueling five-set quarterfinal to reach the semifinals. The next year, at the 1986 Wimbledon semifinal, again as an unseeded player, he lost to Ivan Lendl in a hard-fought five-set match.
Over the course of his career, Živojinović amassed an overall singles record of 150 wins and 138 defeats. He was much more successful in doubles competition, winning the US Open in 1986 with Andrés Gómez. That same year, he won three more tournaments. He was ranked as the world No. 1 doubles player on September 8, 1986.

Career titles

Singles (2)

ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1.Nov 1986Houston, United StatesCarpet Scott Davis6–1, 4–6, 6–3
Win2.Oct 1988Sydney, AustraliaHard Richard Matuszewski7–6, 6–3, 6–4

Doubles (8)

ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1.Jul 1985Boston, United StatesHard Libor Pimek Peter McNamara
Paul McNamee		2–6, 6–4, 7–6
Win2.Mar 1986Brussels, BelgiumCarpet Boris Becker John Fitzgerald
Tomáš Šmíd		7–6, 7–5
Win3.Mar 1986Rotterdam, NetherlandsCarpet Stefan Edberg Wojtek Fibak
Matt Mitchell		2–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win4.Aug 1986US Open, New YorkHard Andrés Gómez Joakim Nyström
Mats Wilander		4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3
Win5.Mar 1987Brussels, BelgiumCarpet Boris Becker Chip Hooper
Michael Leach		7–6, 7–6
Win6.Mar 1987Milan, ItalyCarpet Boris Becker Sergio Casal
Emilio Sánchez		3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win7.Oct 1988Tokyo, JapanCarpet Andrés Gómez Boris Becker
Eric Jelen		7–5, 5–7, 6–3
Win8.Feb 1990Brussels, BelgiumCarpet Emilio Sánchez Goran Ivanišević
Balázs Taróczy		7–5, 6–3

Team competitions (1)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Živojinović was engaged to Zorica Desnica with whom he has a son Filip. The couple broke up before getting to the altar.
In 1991, Živojinović married popular Yugoslav folk singer Fahreta Jahić known as Lepa Brena.
Though undeniably well known for his tennis, Živojinović's media prominence, especially in the years since his retirement, also owes a lot to his marriage to Lepa Brena, Yugoslavia's biggest commercial folk singing star ever. Their wedding on December 7, 1991 was a supreme media event throughout the then still existing Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The lavish ceremony took place at Belgrade's InterContinental Hotel with Ion Ţiriac as the groom's best man. The level of interest in the event was such that Brena's manager Raka Đokić even released a VHS tape of the wedding for commercial exploitation. Their very public relationship has been providing steady fodder for various yellow media publications ever since.
The couple have two sons — Stefan and Viktor. In the afternoon hours of Thursday, November 23, 2000, 8-year-old Stefan was kidnapped by members of Zemun mafia clan and returned on Tuesday five days later on the side of Belgrade-Niš highway for the ransom sum reported to be more than DM 2 million.
Throughout 2005 and 2006 there were numerous tabloid reports about Živojinović's supposed infidelity and bad state of his marriage. Finally, in April 2006 he reportedly even moved out of the family home following yet another argument with Brena. Though the reports of a separation were frequent and detailed, the couple are still together.