Ivanovic entered the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) top 20 after her debut on the 2005 French Open, when she lost in the quarterfinals. After almost two years in top 20, Ivanovic advanced into the top 10 in the WTA rankings, after winning German Open, on May 13, 2007. She is currently the No. 6 in the world and the No. 2 Serbian player simultaneously, behind Jelena Jankovic.
Ivanovic started her promising career at the age of 5, after memorising the number of a local tennis clinic from an ad on TV. During her training she encountered the NATO bombings in 1999, where she would have to train in the morning to avoid them. Later on she admitted she would train in an abandonned swimming pool in the winter, as there were no other facilities.
Ivanovic is good friends with doubles partner Maria Kirilenko, as well as other professional tennis players Daniela Hantuchová, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sanja Ancic and fellow Serbian Novak Ðokovic.
In 2004, Ivanovic first caught the eye of the tennis world when she reached the final of the Junior Wimbledon tournament in 2004, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko. In 2004 she also went 26-0 on the challenger circuit, and won all 4 events that she entered, two of them as a qualifier. Her first professional breakthrough occurred in October of 2004 when she took Venus Williams to two tie breaks before losing 7-6(11) 7-6(6) in the second round of the Zurich Open in Zurich, Switzerland, this was after a tremendous 3 set battle with, then ranked, Number 27 Tatiana Golovin. She followed that up with a quarterfinal showing in Luxembourg the following week.
In 2007, Ivanovic's first tournament was at the Mondial Hardcourts, in Gold Coast, falling to Shahar Peer 57 64 64 in the quarterfinals. Her next tournament was the Sydney Medibank International. After demolishing Australian Casey Dellacqua, she downed Nadia Petrova in straight sets, before losing, in the quarterfinals again, to an in-form Nicole Vaidišová 64 62.
Ivanovic entered the 2007 Australian Open seeded 13th. She defeated American Vania King, losing only two games, and survived a three set scare against Polish player Agnieszka Radwanska, 62 36 62. Ivanovic faced No. 22 Vera Zvonareva in the third round, but fell in straight sets 61 62. Immediately after the 2007 Australian Open, Ivanovic announced via her official website that she has terminated the services of her former coach, David Taylor. She is currently coachless.
At the 2007 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan, Ivanovic made her third final, defeating Shenay Perry in the first round, Mara Santangelo in the second, Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinal, and Maria Sharapova (who retired while trailing by a set) in the semifinal. After recovering from a break down in the first set against Hingis, Ivanovic lost seven straight games from 34 to 64 40 before losing 64 62. Soon after she left for Antwerp where she made the quarterfinals, eventually losing to finalist Kim Clijsters. Ivanovic then packed her bags for America, went where she participated in the Indian Wells tournament. She quickly made the fourth round, dropping only 6 games in her first two matches against Vania King and Alicia Molik, but in the fourth round she was upset by Austrian No. 1 Sybille Bammer.
Her next event was Miami, where Ivanovic was upset by rising star Yaroslava Shvedova in the second round. The following week was her first tournament on green clay at Amelia Island. After a opening round scare against China's Shuai Peng, where Ivanovic was down 16, 02, 15-40, but won 16 64 63, Ana defeated Nathalie Dechy and Jelena Jankovic, before falling to an inform Tatiana Golovin, 64 36 64. In her first appearance at the Family Circle Cup, she lost to Vera Zvonareva in the third round.
Ivanovic was then off to Barcelona, to prepare herself for the Red Clay swing. Ivanovic was then off to Berlin for the2007 Qatar Telecom German Open Championships, where she won her first Tier I clay court title. She was in fantastic form, beating Patty Schnyder and later on World Number 3, Svetlana Kuznetsova 36 64 76(4) in the final - during which she badly hurt her ankle, which forced her to withdraw from Rome. The win propelled her in the WTA Rankings to her first top 10 entry at No. 8.
Ivanovic then headed into the 2007 French Open full of confidence and on a 6 match winning streak. She continued this streak to 9, dismissing her first 3 opponents with the loss of only 9 games. Her fourth round encounter with Anabel Medina Garrigues, who was on an 8 match winning streak, proved difficult, but Ana prevailed with an epic 63 36 63 win. Her second quaterfinal at Roland Garros, against Svetlana Kuznetsova, was a topsy turvsy win, with Ana beating the World Number 3, 60 36 61. Ana headed into her first Grand Slam semi-final as the underdog, against Russian Maria Sharapova, yet after 65 minutes, she had dismissed the World Number 2, in convincing style: 62 61. Her opponent for the final would be 3 time winner Justine Henin, who had defeated the likes of Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic. Though Ana proved no contest, going down 61 62 in an error plagued final.
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