Goran ponders quitting

MELBOURNE, Jan 20: Three-times Wimbledon finalist Goran Ivanisevic may quit tennis at the end of the year unless he can find a way to pull himself out of the worst form slump of his career, the player said today, reports Reuters.

Speaking after his 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 loss to Spain's Francisco Clavet in the second round of the Australian Open, the lanky Croatian said he was finding it hard to maintain his motivation.

"I'm going to see after this year (about retiring) but I hope not," he said.

"I hope I can get over this... but there is a long time to go before I make any decision."

Ivanisevic, who finished runner-up at Wimbledon in 1992, 1994 and 1998 but has never won a Grand Slam title, said time was running out for him to achieve his lifelong ambition.

Once ranked as high as number two in the world, the 28-year-old finished 1999 ranked 62nd, his lowest end of year rating since he turned professional in 1988.

He failed to win a title in 1999 for the first time in a decade and showed few signs that he is ready to turn his game around as he caved in against Clavet, a player he had beaten on each of the five previous times they had met.

As reliable as ever on his own serve, reaching a top speed of 208kph, Ivanisevic was unusually tentative on return, pushing and poking at the ball rather than hitting through it.

With the first set going to a tiebreak, he mis-hit five returns on Clavet's second serve.

He was broken early in the second then twice lost his serve in the third when he had held game point. He never once got to break-point on Clavet's serve.

"It's okay to lose... but this is a different kind of thing," Ivanisevic said.

"It's tough to explain, but I couldn't move... I was blocked, I couldn't control my legs.

"I've played nearly 50 Grand Slams before but I looked lost on the court. I looked around and everything looked so big, so many people, it was like I've never seen people before.

"I tried to run and it's like I'm running in the same place, I'm not going anywhere.

"I don't know what it's going to take, I don't know. Maybe I should take some drugs.

"He's a good player from the back but he's not the best server in the game and I just couldn't return.

"That was just the worst match I've ever played in my life."

Despite his loss, Ivanisevic was still able to keep his sense of humour.

He said after his third round loss at last year's US Open that he was considering seeing a psychologist but said he has now dismissed that idea.

"Maybe I would become more crazy than I am now," he smiled.