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Ana confident she can return to the very top

The 24-year-old Serbian reached her professional peak so far around four or five years ago, when a semi-final appearance at Wimbledon in 2007 was followed by a finals-day outing at the Australian Open and outright victory on the clay at Roland Garros in 2008.

Ivanovic duly became the world number one on June 9^th 2008, but she has seemingly struggled to maintain that fine form ever since then as the likes of Azarenka, Kvitova and Wozniacki have overtaken their narrowly older peers.

Still, the Belgrade-born professional insists she has the game to mix it with the very best in the business, especially with former Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) women’s tennis head coach Nigel Sears helping instigate that revival.

“There have been a lot of improvements since we started working together,” said Ivanovic of her link-up with Sears, which began in late June last year.

“It’s a work in progress and it takes time to get to know each other and see whether you work well together or not. “The improvements have been great. The biggest improvements were actually made in the off-season. That was the first time we had time to work on things.

“My serve definitely needed improvement and also my forehand, and my backhand still a little bit.

“So, overall, I’m still just trying to get my base game there and build on that. We still have a lot of work to do, but it’s exciting.”

Ivanovic believes she has built up a “great understanding” with Sears, with her “perfectionist” tendencies offset by his “very calm” persona, and that will only assist her concerted attempts to find greater consistency overall. “It’s always going to be up and down,” she admitted. “We have so many tournaments and you cannot really play great every week, unless you’re Novak Djokovic!

“It’s tough and it’s always going to be up and down. I really hope to get my level up to the stage where I can compete consistently, like through the semis and finals and stay deep in a tournament.

“It’s really strange that – at 24 – you’re considered old. They’re playing great. It’s a great challenge for us players that have been around for a while. They’re pushing us to improve and get better.

“I really believe that I can get back to the top and be in the mix to win Grand Slams.

“That’s why I’m here; that’s why I’m working hard. If that wasn’t going to happen or if I didn’t have the feeling that can happen, then I wouldn’t be here.”