In tennis, what separates good players from legends is, more than anything, consistency. While many players have had incredible runs in important tournaments, not all of them are able to repeat success. One of the most remembered examples is Croatian Iva Majoli, who won the French Open but couldn’t live up to the hype of that victory.
Majoli turned professional in August 1991 at the age of 14. She quickly ascended the ranks, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 in February 1996. Over her career, she secured eight WTA singles titles and one doubles title, the biggest one being Roland Garros.
However, other notable achievements include winning three Tier I singles tournaments: the Zurich Open in 1995, the Pan Pacific Open in 1996, and the Charleston Open in 2002. She also reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 1996 and 1997, respectively, and was a semifinalist at the WTA Championships in 1996.
![Iva Majoli in 1995 (Matthew Stockman /Allsport)](https://ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https://images.bolavip.com/webp/en/full/BUS_20250129_BUS_323597_iva-majoli-1-1-1024x576_74b19b78.webp&width=1024&height=576)
Iva Majoli in 1995 (Matthew Stockman /Allsport)
However, its pinnacle was her stunning victory at the 1997 French Open, marking a historic moment for Croatian sports. Her journey through the professional tennis circuit was marked by early promise, a landmark achievement, and subsequent challenges. Beyond her playing days, Majoli has explored various ventures, including a notable appearance on Croatia’s Dancing with the Stars.
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Grand Slam Glory
Entering the 1997 French Open as the ninth seed, the 19-year-old Majoli wasn’t a favorite. However, she had an amazing run, beating some big names. In the fourth round, she overcame a deficit of 4-6, 0-4, and 15-40 against Lindsay Davenport of the United States.
She then had to go to three sets against Ruxendra Dragomir and Amanda Coetzer as, according to The New York Times, she had to fight a bad cold and was on antibiotics. However, her most important win, of course, came in the final against World No. 1 Martina Hingis.
In a surprising outcome, Majoli defeated Hingis in straight sets, 6–4, 6–2, capturing her first and only Grand Slam title. It was the only major that Hingis lost that season, and Majoli also broke her 35-match winning streak.
With the win, Majoli became the first Croatian to win one of the four major championships. “I guess I can’t believe I’m a champion because I feel so normal,” she said after her upset, according to The New York Times. “I feel like nothing happened,” she added.
Career decline and battle with injuries
Following her triumph at Roland Garros, Majoli struggled to maintain her top form. Injuries in her back and her right shoulder, as well as inconsistent performances led to a decline in her rankings. Only two years after her win at Roland Garros, she was out of the Top 300. However, she also explained how winning a Grand Slam made her lose her focus.
“I think so many things happened too quick that I was just mentally very tired and burned out. I wanted to take actually a little break. I took two weeks. It wasn’t like I didn’t work hard, it was just I think mentally I wasn’t prepared for what was happening. I think lots of players, except maybe Martina and a few other, have problems when they win a Grand Slam because everything kind of changes,” she told the press during Indian Wells in 2001.
Adding, “There’s so many other things, people call you, they want to do interviews, shows, this. Maybe you focus more on those things than on tennis. As soon as you focus on something else, I mean, you go on the court, and of course everyone wants to beat you. It’s not easy if you’re not a hundred percent in tennis.”
![Iva Majoli attends the WTA 50th anniversary gala (arah Stier/Getty Images)](https://ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https://images.bolavip.com/webp/en/full/BUS_20250129_BUS_323597_iva-majoli-2-1024x576_84e8f9e3.webp&width=1024&height=576)
Iva Majoli attends the WTA 50th anniversary gala (arah Stier/Getty Images)
From a brief period, she had a resurgence at the start of the new millennium, pushing Hingis to a third-set tie-break at the 2001 US Open and winning her first title in five years at the 2002 Family Circle Cup (now Volvo Car Open) in Charleston. About that period, she told the WTA official website in 2017:
“I’m a positive person but I did have some struggles with injuries and that’s what hurt me at the end of my career the most. I kept wondering if I could come back, or if I should stop, and those were the toughest days, when I had to decide what to do and how to continue with my life. I tried for a few years and had many surgeries and different treatments and nothing worked at the end so that was a big struggle.”
In June 2004, at the age of 26, Majoli announced her retirement from professional tennis. After that, she married a local businessman, Stipe Marić, on 9 September 2006, with Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pierce attending the wedding and had her daughter Mia.
![He faced Djokovic, Federer and Nadal, threatened Diego Maradona and got suspended for life at 35](https://ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.bolavip.com%2Fwebp%2Fen%2Ffull%2FBUS_20250125_BUS_320761_potito-starace.webp&width=200&height=200)
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Post-Retirement: Dancing with the Stars and other ventures
After retiring, Majoli has remained active within the tennis community, participating in exhibition matches and serving as a mentor to young Croatian players. She also was the captain of the Croatian Fed Cup team in 2012, and was captain for Croatia in the United Cup in 2024. Majoli also served as the tournament director of the Hopman Cup in 2023.
However, she also participated in Croatia’s Dancing with the Stars (Ples sa zvijezdama). She was eliminated in the fourth episode. And it seems like she started a trend. One year later, Monica Seles followed her steps and joined the American version of the show.
In 2015, according to Croatian reports, she was close to being evicted out of her million dollar apartment after getting herself into huge debt. Media have reported that Majoli got into trouble after “living the high-life” and also for failed business ventures, as well as a big loan she took out to open up a tennis centre in the heart of the Croatian capital.
![Majoli as Crotia’s captain in the United Cup 2024 (Jason McCawley/Getty Images)](https://ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https://images.bolavip.com/webp/en/full/BUS_20250129_BUS_323597_iva-majoli-1024x576_c18d1c11.webp&width=1024&height=576)
Majoli as Crotia’s captain in the United Cup 2024 (Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
While Majoli couldn’t reach another grand slam glory, she remains as one of the biggest inspirations for Croatian players, including talents such as Olympic silver medalist Donna Vecik, and she definitely opened up the path for champions such as Marin Cilic.