Ivana Lisjak

In 2013, Ivana obtained her WTA coaching license, which is only available to players that were able to break Top 100 in their professional career. Ivana also has her USTA and PTR coaching license.  Her coaching career began after being seen practicing at local tennis clubs.  She has been approached several times by parents to see if she was interested in being a personal coach and mentor to their children aspiring to be better tennis players.  Ivana decided that as a coach she would only take one student at a time so that she can fully focus on that person, their needs, and feel truly vested in them as a person and player.  Her coaching philosophy is regimenting schedules, strong work ethic, dedication, persistent, and resilience.  Ivana believes that talent can get you only so far, but that the physical conditioning and resilience on the court is critical for players to take their careers to the next level.   Several of these students have become top ranked players in the USA.  

Early in 2011, Ivana took time off from tennis to heal her chronic lower-back injury.  The summer of 2013 Ivana launch a comeback after spending over two years trying to control her back pain that "[w]hen it would (flair up), I would not be able to walk," lamented Lisjak. Ivana was able to win her matches against many former top 100 rank players at the $50,000 FSP Gold River Women’s Challenger. During this come back she was able to participate in three tournaments and got her ranking back to the Top 300 over the course of one month. She attributes this quick rise to be an able to look at the game from the coach's eyes and being able to approach the stressful moments in the match in a calmer way. She says she was able to use her coaching experience to identify the dynamics of the game and use different kinds of strategies and tactics against her opponents. Unfortunately her back flared up again and she decided to retire for good, but this short comeback was some of the most enjoyable tennis she ever played.

Turning a professional at the age of 14, the right-handed Ivana quickly became a force on the pro circuit as a baseliner who preferred the hardcourts. Ivana played in all Grand Slam tournaments, won 8 International Tennis Federation (ITF) pro circuit tournaments, and was a14 times a runner up in ITF tournaments. Ivana received her highest career ranking of 95 WTA in 2006. This ranking was when she had reached the third round of the French Open but where she lost to former No.1 world player Martina Hingis of Switzerland.

Ivana Lisjak (Croatian pronunciation: [ǐʋana lǐsjaːk]; born March 17, 1987) began playing tennis at the age of three when her sister, Slađana, introduced her to the sport at their tennis club.  Ivana turned professional at the age of fourteen and quickly became a force on the pro circuit and received the highest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) career ranking of 95 globally. Ivana is known for her piercing blue eyes and has three tattoos in three different languages that are homage to different points in her life and career.  While on the court wearing her signature neon top, white shorts and Asics shoes, she can be heard criticize herself in her native Croatian language after missing shots but and can be cordial, charming and candid off the court. The 5’11” (180cm) tall, athletic tennis player suffered from a chronic lower-back injury in that prevented her from playing consistency at the top levels she was accustomed, which led to her retirement in 2013.