Željko Krajan

Željko Krajan (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈʒeːʎkɔ ˈkrajan]) (born February 3, 1979) is a Croatian tennis coach and former professional tennis player.

Krajan, a native of Varaždin, began playing tennis at age six.[1] His greatest success as a junior player was winning the Orange Bowl doubles tournament with Ivan Ljubičić in 1995.[2]

Krajan started his pro career at the ATP Tour in 1997.[1] His highest ATP ranking was No. 88 in August 2002.[1] In 2003 Krajan was sidelined following a shoulder surgery.[3] In 2004 he suffered a serious quadriceps tear, which ultimately caused his retirement from professional tennis in 2005.[3]

From 2005 on, Krajan turned to coaching, at first working with Saša Tuksar, a young Croatian tennis player, and then with German junior players as Heinz Günthardt's assistant coach.[3][4] In 2006 and 2007 he played in the German Regionalliga Süd-Ost for TC Ismaning. In October 2007, upon recommendation by Ivan Ljubičić, he became the coach of Dinara Safina,[3][5] who was at the time at a psychological low point of her career, ranked No. 17 in the world, and close to retiring from tennis.[4][6] Under Krajan's lead, Safina scored good results in the early 2008 season and placed runner-up in the 2008 French Open. After the 2008 French Open, Krajan was joined by Dejan Vojnović, retired Croatian Olympic sprinter, who became Safina's fitness coach.[7] Her continued string of good results earned her the 2008 WTA Most Improved Player award, and the World No. 1 spot in April 2009.[8]

Safina described Krajan as "totally different from any other tennis coach" due to his patience and positive approach, as opposed to preoccupation with correcting flaws in one's game.[6][9]

Safina and Krajan parted ways in May 2010.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c Željko Krajan at the Association of Tennis Professionals. Retrieved on June 9, 2008
  2. ^ "Matea Mezak nova nada hrvatskog tenisa" (in Croatian) (PDF). Vjesnik. December 30, 1999. http://www.vjesnik.hr/Pdf/1999%5C12%5C30%5C10A10.PDF. Retrieved September 19, 2009. 
  3. ^ a b c d "Rad sa Safinom pravi je užitak" (in Croatian). April 22, 2008. Archived from the original on May 2, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080502060851/http://www.salatara.com/interview.asp?id=59. Retrieved June 9, 2008. 
  4. ^ a b Sinovčić, Dean (April 21, 2009). "Varaždinac doveo Safinu do vrha" (in Croatian). Nacional. http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/56927/varazdinac-doveo-safinu-do-vrha. Retrieved September 19, 2009. 
  5. ^ Gabrovec, Gordan (June 8, 2008). "'Dinara igra kao muškarac'" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list. http://www.jutarnji.hr/nedjeljni_jutarnji/clanak/art-2008,6,8,,122398.jl. Retrieved September 18, 2009. 
  6. ^ a b "Safina: Krajan mi je možda i spasio karijeru!" (in Croatian). Slobodna Dalmacija. September 30, 2008. http://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/Tenis/tabid/86/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/24320/Default.aspx. Retrieved September 19, 2009. 
  7. ^ Bilić, Marko (June 21, 2008). "Najbrži Hrvat uzima Dinaru Safinu pod svoje" (in Croatian). Slobodna Dalmacija. http://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/Atletika/tabid/110/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/12046/Default.aspx. Retrieved August 29, 2008. 
  8. ^ "Dinara Safina info". Women's Tennis Association. http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/page/Player/Info/0,,12781~8108,00.html. Retrieved September 16, 2009. 
  9. ^ "Kako je Željko Krajan od Safine napravio svjetski broj 1?" (in Croatian). Dnevnik.hr. June 5, 2009. http://sport.dnevnik.hr/clanak/tenis/kako-je-zeljko-krajan-od-safine-napravio-svjetski-broj-1.html. Retrieved September 18, 2009. 
  10. ^ "Dinara Safina Breaks Up With Coach Zeljko Krajan". gototennis.com. May 23, 2010. http://gototennis.com/2010/05/23/dinara-safina-breaks-up-with-coach-zeljko-krajan/. Retrieved February 5, 2011. 

External links