CM – Croatia wins an impressive 15th Grand Slam tennis title – a look at them

Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić were the first purely Croatian couple to win a Grand Slam title in men’s doubles at Wimbledon on Saturday evening.

Since the country gained independence in the early 1990s, a Croat has had a total of 15 grand -Slam tennis title won. This is an impressive achievement for a nation with only about 4 million inhabitants in one of the most powerful sports in the world.

Last night’s victory was Pavić’s 5th Grand Slam title and Mektić’s 2nd. Pavić and Ivan Dodig are now joint leaders among the Croatians with the most Grand Slam titles with 5 titles each.

Seven Croatian players have won Grand Slam titles. Below you will find all the Grand Slam titles that Croatians have claimed.

Mirjana Lučić, who had a dream run up to the semi-finals at the Australian Open 2017, won the women’s title in Melbourne with Martina Hingis in 1998. The pair were not seeded and upset the tournament’s No. 1, Natasha Zvereva and Lindsay Davenport, in the final with 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

2018 was Mate Pavić’s year at the Australian Open. Pavić first won the men’s double title when he teamed up with Oliver Marach to beat Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-4, 6-4. Then he joined Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada to win the mixed doubles title after beating Timea Babos and Rohan Bopanna in the final 2-6, 6-4, [11-9].

The Croatian Nikola Mektić has teamed up with Barbora Krejčíková to beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jamie Murray in the final by 5-7, 6-4 [10-1].

Ivan Dodig claims his fifth Grand Slam title after he and Filip Polasek from Slovakia defeated fifth seeded Rajeev Ram (USA) and Joe Sailsbury (UK) in straight sets in the final 6: 3, 6: 4

Majoli won the individual title of the French Open in 1997 and killed 16-year-old Martina Hingis in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 in the final. On her way to the final, Majoli also beat Sandra Kleinová, Alexandra Fusai, Ann Grossman, Lindsay Davenport, Ruxandra Dragomir and Amanda Coetzer.

Ivan Dodig is the first Croatian men’s tennis player to win a title with Roland Garros. Dodig and his Brazilian partner Marcelo Melo were too good for the world rankings of the Bryan brothers and won 6-7, 7-6, 7-5.

Ivan Dodig won his second title at the French Open, this time in mixed Double when he teamed up with Latisha Chan. They would beat Croatia’s Mate Pavić and Gabriela Dabrowski from Canada in the final 6-1, 6-7, [10-8].

Ivan Dodig and Latisha Chan defended their title in Paris in a repeat of the 2018 final. This time Dodig and Chan beat Pavić and Dabrowski 6-1, 7-6.

The most famous of all Croatian Grand Slam titles. Ivanišević defeated Australian Patrick Rafter 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 in an exciting final. Goran was the first wild card to win a major and was 125th in the world at the start of the tournament. Ivanišević had previously reached the final three times (1992, 1994 and 1998), but lost each time (twice against Agassi and Sampras).

Ivan Dodig and Latisha Chan won the title and defeated Robert Lindstedt and Jeļena Ostapenko in the final with 6- 2, 6-3.

Mektić and Pavić beat Argentine Horacio Zeballos and Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the men’s double final at Wimbledon. The Croatians, who were number 1 in the tournament, beat number 4 of the seeded 6-4, 7-6, 2-6, 7-5 to take the title.

From Croatia’s last Grand Slam Coached winner Goran Ivanišević, Marin Čilić won his first major when he defeated Japanese Kei Nishikori 6: 3, 6: 3, 6: 3 in the final. Čilić and Nishikori were the two lowest-placed seeds to reach the US Open final since Pete Sampras won the title in 17th place in 2002. Čilić was the 14th seed of the tournament.

Mate Pavić won the US Open mixed double title in New York in 2016 with his German partner Laura Siegemund. The Croatian-German pairing was too good for their American opponents Coco Vandeweghe and Rajeev Ram in the final and won in straight sets 6-4. 6-4. Pavić and Siegemund didn’t lose a set in the run-up to the final.

Mate Pavić and Bruno Soares defeated no. 8 seeded Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektić from Croatia in the final, 7–5, 6–3 to win the tennis title in men’s doubles . This was the first time since the US Open in 2000 that an unset team won the US Open men’s doubles title. With this victory, Pavić won his second Grand Slam title in men’s doubles after winning the Australian Open in 2018.

** Before Croatia’s independence, Dragutin Mitić won a mixed doubles title at the French Open in 1938 and Nikola Pilić in 1970 a US Open double title.