Swimsuit

5 Playful Tennis-Themed Bikini Photos of Ana Ivanovic

The retired athlete was featured in the 2010 SI Swimsuit Issue.

Cara O’Bleness

Ana Ivanovic

Ana Ivanovic was photographed by Marlena Bielinska in a New York studio.

Serbian tennis player Ana Ivanovic stepped off of the court and on to the set of her SI Swimsuit debut in 2010. The former World No. 1 athlete traveled to a New York studio for the occasion, where she worked with photographer Marlena Bielinska. 

The magazine feature was aptly themed around Ivanovic’s sport of tennis. She posed for the photo shoot in pink and yellow bikinis, and was photographed in a ball pit and with a tennis net wrapped around her body. The resulting images are so iconic that tennis influencer Rachel Stuhlmann paid homage to Ivanovic last Halloween by recreating a few of the stunning images.

Before she retired from the game 2016, Ivanovic racked up plenty of honors throughout her career. She represented her country in the Olympics twice (in London in 2012 and in Rio in ’16), and earned a total of 15 WTA titles.

“There is so much, strangely, but there is, a lot more pressure on women to perform, to be constantly on top,” Ivanovic told the Olympic Channel podcast of the pressures that come with being an elite athlete. “ ... During times in my career, sometimes it was very hard because I was very much focused on the external, on results, on what people think and so on. And then you realize that actually that’s not what matters, it’s what comes from inside. I think the mental part of the game, it’s becoming so much more important than it ever was.”

Today, the 36-year-old is a proud mother and the founder of cosmetics brand Ana Ivanovic Natural Performance. In honor of her success both on and off the court, we’re throwing it back to a few of our favorite pics from her SI Swimsuit photo shoot.

Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanovic
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Cara O’Bleness

CARA O’BLENESS

Cara is a trending news writer/editor for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. A passionate writer and editor with more than 10 years of experience in print and online media, she loves storytelling and believes that words have the power to change the world. Prior to joining the team, Cara worked as a writer and editor across a number of content verticals, including food, lifestyle, health and wellness, and small business and entrepreneurship. In her free time, Cara loves reading, spending time with her family and making her way through Michigan’s many microbreweries. She is a graduate of Michigan State University's School of Journalism.