Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/6256896.stm

New Serb on the block
By Sophie Brown
BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Serbian tennis was the hot topic at last month's French Open so it is no shock to see a Belgrade-born player making headlines at Wimbledon.

But the surprise is that it is not Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic or Jelena Jankovic, the three Serbs who made the last four in Paris.

Instead, it is 22-year-old Janko Tipsarevic who has made a name for himself, reaching the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time.

The world number 64 beat fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez on Friday, coming back from a break down in the final set on his Centre Court debut.

Tipsarevic is the last of the Serbian quartet to break through at senior level but was actually the torch-bearer, having been ranked number one in the world for under 14s, under 16s and under 18s.

His adventurous style of tennis against Gonzalez proved a hit with the Centre Court crowd but there are more obvious things that make the Serb stand out from the crowd, such as his facial piercings and tattoos.


I would like to be a DJ. One of my biggest hobbies is music

Janko Tipsarevic

Sportsmen are not exactly known for being voracious readers but Tipsarevic lists his favourite authors as Dostoevsky, Nietzsche and Goethe.

One of his tattoos, which reads "The beauty will save the world" is from The Idiot by Dostoevsky, whom his mother encouraged him to read as a boy.

"I started reading him when I was 13 and I didn't understand it then," Tipsarevic told BBC Sport.

"Being a tennis pro is a tough life but you have a lot of free time. Reading these kind of books doesn't help you as a tennis player but it helps you as a person."

Tipsarevic, who also used to have bleached blond hair, has other tattoos including one of his star sign Cancer on his left shoulder and one that translates as 'genius' on his right.

One arm features the names of his family, who he admits took time to adapt to his sense of fashion.

"The first tattoo I did when I was 17. And when I showed up with my mouth piercing, my mother was chasing me with a knife around the house," he jokes.

"Then after a while they got used to it and knew that my appearance isn't anything to do with the kind of person that I am inside.

"Maybe it looks aggressive to other people but I really don't care."

Reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon, where he will play 20th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, is no mean feat for a player from a country that does not have a single grass court.

But the 22-year-old has had to deal with far more serious inconveniences during his life, notably living through the difficulties caused by the Balkans conflict.

"The situation in the country was really bad and the political situation was very difficult. It was a complete mess," said Tipsarevic, who was in Montenegro when Nato began air strikes on his country.

"The first thing in my life is my family. It was a real struggle for them but they stuck by me under unbelievable pressure and they believed in me."

Many players have little awareness of life outside of the tennis circuit but university graduate Tipsarevic already has post-tennis ambitions.

"I would like to be a DJ. One of my biggest hobbies is music," he said.

"I download, I buy music and I follow DJs around the clubs in Belgrade and I've actually played a couple of times in a small club.

"I'd like to feel what it's like to play music in front of 5,000 or 10,000 people."

For now, he'll have to settle for playing tennis in front of 15,000 people on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

I love Tipsy :D He caught my attention a couple of years ago when he played very well in a match at Queens. He stood out form the crowd and I thought he had quite a talent. I saw his interview today. He's a very intelligent, thoughtful and gracious young man. He's also very grateful for what he has. His family struggled in the turbulent political times his country has had, and he really appreciates his roots and his family. He says his prize money goes to his family as he owes it to them for the sacrifices they made for him to play tennis. He also values education and learning and is very well read and philospohical. He's very grounded and not big headed at all, and seems to have real values - quite a refreshing change from some of the more 'media whore' players that we have to suffer. And such thoughtful tatoos - quoting Dostoevsky across your body sure shows thought. :ok: I like him, he's very cool B) Great necklace also :D The onyl thing is - I want to spike his hair up a bit, woudl look much better! roflmao

i much prefer his game and his presence to Djokovic, i just hope he can reach some of Djokos success

Tipsarevic is sooo cool, he's one of my fave tennis players, he was 2 sets up on Nalby before retiring at the start of the 5th due to heat exhaustion in Melbourne...


However he's my 5ht fave and Ferrero is 3rd si behind JCF but would be happy to see either through... :D

Yeah I wonder if he will be having sex with Trisco though? roflmao

Just watching the BBC interview with Tipsarevic - bless, he's lovely. Very well spoken and very intelligent - love his tattoos as well :wub: :wub:

he actually reminds me a lot of one of my polish friends :wacko:

I know, he is so sweet! I'm going to do a Trisco and have sex with Tipsarevic! roflmao

I refuse to take part in this Witch hunt.

get in the queue lady!!!! :P

"Doing a Trisco?"

Is that what they call it these days? roflmao

Damn, I thought I was in with a chance there Jo! roflmao Well he is far too young for me, but what the hell! roflmao

Doing a Trisco: stating with firm conviction your intent to have sexual realtions with a tennis player of your choice. :D

All of the serbian/ montenegrian(?) players do seem to bring out the primal element of posters on this board, don't they..! roflmao

you know, we need to start a CC dictionary.....

god knows how you lot will define arsders - it seems to have so many uses.....sort of like the f-word..... ;)2

Federer? :shrug:

roflmao Seems that way, although it's a slight geographical movement for me from Croatia! :D

add russians to that list ;)2

Yeah, you can have the arsders when you are peed off, you can be an arsder, the list is endless! :D

Yes please do! :D

I seem to favour men from the Eastern side of Europe, although no closer than Germany! With the exception of Pat Rafter, sex on a stick that man is! roflmao

im quite partial to the American players myslef :P

East Europeans/ Russians for me too :)

Such as?

Blake and Roddick of course (i used to quite like Sampras too but dont tell anyone ;) )

same here :wub:

Oh right! :D I never fancied either. Do you like Ginepri? He had quite a body a while back and nice choice of outifts. What abotu the olides like Connors and Mac? :D

roflmao

ginepri yes, Gambill is ok too. Connors and mac no, although i thought Agassi was ok

Oh yeah, Gambill! Quite a poseur he was! You can't have Agassi, cos Pebs has sex with him on demand! roflmao

hes a bit old for me nowadays, i will stick woth Blake and Arod thanks :)

tipsarevic is sexy :P

I can't understand why i haven't noticed this man before....... :unsure: Probably 'cos last time i heard of him he'd just beaten Marat and i was slightly distracted :whistle:

I noticed him a couple of years back so does that mean I get first in the queue? B)

lol - i get first in queue for marat it's fine - although i was pretty sure you had some deal on goran ;)2

i first saw him when we played Serbia in Davis Cup

He's playing Ferrero now and it's shaping up nicely.....

They're two of my fave players so not sure who I want to win.....

Just glad it's on the mulitscreen....

well, dont be too sure about that - fairly sure I have dibs on Blake too - you can keep ARod though :P

as for this Tipsy character - curse my bog standard tv, the times of Wimbledon and the bloody rain - I have not seen this bloke before - but what a great character - fab to see someone like this in the game. Am looking forward to trying to catch him in action - via livestreaming no doubt now :angry:

Pebs, if you go to the BBC tennis website and go to more video and audio there should be a short video called "Tipsarevic enjoying wimbledon limelight"

it's quite good :D

Shame Tipsy lost today. :( No disrespect to JCF, it's just all those gripping 3 setters and that amazing comeback with Gonzo made it all seem rather disappointing. Plus Tipsy is more my type than JCF of course :D

thanks for that Jo :D :hug:

Does this mean we'll be sharing Tipsy as well? roflmao

:devil:

I might need to start a petition to get more days in the week.... :blink: