Celebrating Ivan Dodig’s retirement: ‘I always gave everything’ | ATP Tour

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Celebrating Ivan Dodig’s retirement: ‘I always gave everything’

ATPTour.com spoke exclusively to the Croatian about his career

November 21, 2025

On February 6, 2011, Ivan Dodig won his first ATP Tour singles title by hitting an ace to defeat Michael Berrer in front of his home fans in Zagreb. At least that’s what the Croats think.

Dodig threw his racket into the crowd and walked to the net, thinking the game was over. Umpire Cedric Mourier, now the head of the ATP, told the right-hander it was a handicap.

“I was like, ‘No way’. I couldn’t believe it,” Dodig told ATPTour.com. “It was a tense situation because I threw the racket and I needed to ask the guy to give it back to me. I lost the next point, and it was a deuce. Somehow, I managed to finish the match. I was lucky. I keep thinking about it. Imagine me losing that match, that would have been a disaster.”

Instead, Dodig claimed his only tour-level singles trophy with a 6-3, 6-4 victory and went on to create a memorable career in singles and doubles over the next 15 years. The proud 40-year-old, who has retired from professional tennis, is ranked No. 29 in the PIF ATP Rankings and No. 2 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings and has won 24 tour-level doubles titles.

“At the beginning of the year, I was considering my options. And then throughout the year, a few months later, I had made my decision and everyone around me knew this was going to be my last year,” Dodig said. “But I didn’t put a lot of focus on it and now at the end, over the last few months, I’ve decided and finally started sharing with good friends that this is going to be my last year.”

Dodig has had great success in both singles and doubles, and he just felt now was a good time to hang up his racket.

“Usually players break through the top 100 when they are 20, 21 years old. I broke through the top 100 [when I was] Almost 24 years old. But after that, I stayed there for a long time, 15, 16 years,” Dodig said. “I achieved a lot, played a lot of tennis in singles and doubles. So it’s been a pretty long career for me and I’m really happy with it and I’ve really enjoyed myself over the years. “

Dodig is from Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the same town as former world number three Marin Cilic. Dodig is nearly four years older than Cilic, but they grew up together and are best friends.

Their town is better known for religious pilgrimages than sports. When Dodig and Cilic were growing up, the only tennis player they could see on TV was Goran Ivanisevic.

“We are all like this [fell] Falling in love with tennis, we started dreaming,” Dodig recalled.

Cilic moved to Zagreb at a young age to pursue his dream and later trained under Bob Brett. He reached great heights in the sport, winning a Grand Slam title at the 2014 U.S. Open, but he never gave up on his relationship with Dodig. They even won a silver medal in men’s doubles together at the Tokyo Olympics.

“We have to be proud. This is a special story and a special gift. From start to finish, we [spent] A lot of time sitting together and talking about it,” Dodig said. “It’s special and not a lot of people know about it, but our journey is different than a lot of other people’s and we’re proud of it. We inspired a lot of kids in the area to play tennis. Even now it’s great to see so many kids playing tennis because of us. “

That same year, Dodig won in Zagreb and defeated then-world No. 2 Rafael Nadal 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Canada. The Croatian also defeated Tsonga, Raonic and Cilic many times, and defeated Kei Nishikori and others.

“I have to admit, I had a great career in singles,” Dodig said. “So many great wins, great memories.”

During his singles career, Dodig excelled in doubles. Eventually, his back began to have problems, and he played his last tour-level singles match in July 2017, switching to doubles.

The Croatian has won three men’s doubles Grand Slam titles, winning the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, the 2021 Australian Open with Filip Polasek and the 2023 French Open with Austin Krajicek. Dodig has won six Masters 1000 titles and played in the Nitto ATP Finals nine times with four different partners (Melo, Marcel Granollers, Polasek and Krajicek).

“I think I made a really, really great decision at the time,” Dodig said. “I extended my doubles career for another seven or eight years and had amazing success in doubles with great partners.”

Krajicek, who along with Dodig won the 2023 year-end ATP Doubles No. 1 title presented by PIF, said: “What a great career he’s had. He’s someone I’ve looked up to for a long time and obviously I have a lot of respect for him. [It has been a privilege] To be a small part of his journey and play with him, it really feels like he’s almost like family to me. We had a lot of fun together and had a lot of success. It’s great to see a guy like Ivan, he’s a role model for a lot of young guys coming into the sport and has held to such a high standard of work ethic and perseverance, his whole career has been really interesting. I have always had great respect for Ivan and of course wish him all the best. “

Dodig, for his part, the 40-year-old hopes he can contribute to the next generation.

“I hope that through my sports career I can inspire some kids to find a path and find their dreams. Hopefully they can achieve their dreams too, and if I can inspire them a little bit, I’ll be very proud and happy,” Dodig said. “I always give everything on the tennis court – for myself, for my family, for the community and for the people who love tennis and strive to become a professional. I give everything and I feel very happy and satisfied.”