Early career (2000–2002)

As a junior, Ančić rose to No. 1 in the junior world-rankings on 2 January 2001, compiling a singles record of 62–20. He made the finals in the Boys' Singles at the 2000 Australian Open (losing to Andy Roddick) and the 2000 Wimbledon Championships (losing to Nicolas Mahut).

Goran Ivanišević was his doubles partner in his Croatian Davis Cup Team debut and at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in doubles. At first, Ančić mostly played Futures and Davis Cup tournaments, winning one title in Zagreb; and from August 2001 he started to play Challenger tournaments, winning four in singles and one in doubles. He compiled a record of 30–16 in Challenger play in 2002.

ATP Tour career (2002–2005)

His ATP debut was at Miami Masters, where he drew a wild card, but he lost in the opening round.^[12] The highlight of his Grand Slam debut at the 2002 Wimbledon Championships was the major upset of his first round defeat of Roger Federer, the seventh seed, 6–3, 7–6⁽²⁾, 6–3 in just under two hours.^[13] He finished the 2002 season in the top 100 in singles.

Goran Ivanišević and Mario Ančić playing doubles during the 2004 Queen's Club Championships

At the ATP Indesit Milano Indoor in February 2004, Ančić made it into his first singles ATP final, defeating sixth seed Rafael Nadal and third seed Tommy Robredo. At the 2004 Wimbledon Championships, Ančić had his best Grand Slam result, reaching the semi-finals. In reaching the Grand Slam semi-finals, he jumped 36 places on the ATP singles ranking to No. 27.^[14] In doubles, he teamed up with Ivan Ljubičić, and represented Croatia at the 2004 Summer Olympics. They won a bronze medal, losing to González and Nicolás Massú in the semi-final. He won his first ATP singles title at the Ordina Open. His 2005 highlights also include the final at the Japan Open Tennis Championships, losing to Wesley Moodie.

Career apex (2006)

Ančić started on the 2006 ATP Tour with strong note in his second tournament of the year in Auckland, where he defeated top seed Fernando González on his way to the final. In February, he also reached the final in Marseille, losing to Arnaud Clément. He made in the quarter-finals at two Masters and two Grand Slams tournaments. Ančić was defeated by David Nalbandian at Miami and Rome and by Roger Federer at the French Open and Wimbledon. He also reached his career high at Master Series event, reaching the semi-finals at Hamburg Masters. Ančić successfully defended his 2005 title at 's-Hertogenbosch. After Wimbledon, Ančić reached No. 7, his career high in singles.^[15]

At the 2006 French Open, he had a shoving incident with Paul Capdeville at the end of his second-round match. Ančić was bothered by the Chilean's repeated complaints to the chair umpire, including just before the post-match handshake. Both of them were fined $3,000.^[16][17] He reached the quarter-finals before losing to Federer.

Ančić missed the U.S. hard-court season due to a knee injury received in a jet skiing accident. In September, in the first event after the summer injuries, he reached the final at the China Open, losing to Marcos Baghdatis. In October, he won his third singles title at the St. Petersburg Open. At the Paris Masters, Ančić lost to Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals.

Mononucleosis, and return to the Tour (2007–2010)

He entered the 2007 Australian Open as the ninth seed, and advanced to a fourth round.

In Marseille, Ančić retired in the first round and was diagnosed with infectious mononucleosis (mono).^[18] Later, he confessed that he was playing sick a week before in a match against Germany in the Davis Cup, and the virus had started to affect him at the Australian Open.^[19] Due to his illness, Ančić spent most of the next 10 weeks in bed^[20] and missed six months from the tour.

Ančić started training in June with his Swedish coach Fredrik Rosengren.^[20] After he withdrew from two tournaments in July, Ančić returned in August at the Canada Masters and the Cincinnati Masters, where he lost in the second rounds. Ančić fractured a small bone at the gym a week before the US Open, which was the third Grand Slam he missed in 2007.^[19] In October, he made his first big result after the illness, making it into the quarterfinals at Madrid Masters. In 2007, he dropped to No. 83 at the end of the year.^[6]

Ančić hitting a backhand at the 2008 Indian Wells Masters

Ančić started the 2008 season again with illness and was forced to withdraw from the tournaments in Australia, missing his fourth Grand Slam in a row.^[21] His first 2008 event was in Marseille in February, where he eventually lost in the final to Andy Murray. At the Indian Wells Masters and Miami Masters, Ančić entered the main draw by receiving wild cards, where he beat three seeded players.

Having lost in an opening round at the Canada Masters, and having skipped the Cincinnati Masters as the fatigue intensified and the weight loss mounted, Ančić withdrew from the 2008 Summer Olympics,^[22] and later the US Open, due to a recurrence of mononucleosis.^[23] Ančić returned in September, playing for the Davis Cup. After a good start at the beginning of the 2009 season, Ančić announced in May that he would pull out of the French Open, Wimbledon, and the Davis Cup semifinal match, again because recurrence of mononucleosis.^[24][25]

Ančić returned to the main tour level at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open, where he made it to the third round. He played Challengers without success.

Retirement

On 21 February 2011, Ančić announced his retirement from professional tennis due to recurring mononucleosis. He ended his career with three titles, 208 wins and 135 losses.^[26] On 23 February 2011, Ančić held a press conference at the Firule tennis club, where he officially retired from professional tennis. He stated that; "[My] heart wanted, but [my] body couldn't, this is the toughest moment of my life. I have never run away from responsibility. I always strived for perfection, and when I realized that my body cannot provide the kind of tennis I can play, there was no other solution".^[27][28]

Olympics medal matches

Doubles: 1 (1 bronze medal)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Bronze	2004	Athens, Greece	Hard	Ivan Ljubičić	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	7–6(7–5), 4–6, 16–14

Singles: 11 (3 titles, 8 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Feb 2004	Milan, Italy	International Series	Carpet	Antony Dupuis	4–6, 7–6(14–12), 6–7(5–7)
Loss	0–2	Feb 2005	Scottsdale, United States	International Series	Hard	Wayne Arthurs	5–7, 3–6
Win	1–2	Jun 2005	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	International Series	Grass	Michaël Llodra	7–5, 6–4
Loss	1–3	Oct 2005	Tokyo, Japan	International Gold	Hard	Wesley Moodie	6–1, 6–7(7–9), 4–6
Loss	1–4	Jan 2006	Auckland, New Zealand	International Series	Hard	Jarkko Nieminen	2–6, 2–6
Loss	1–5	Feb 2006	Marseille, France	International Series	Hard	Arnaud Clément	4–6, 2–6
Win	2–5	Jun 2006	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	International Series	Grass	Jan Hernych	6–0, 5–7, 7–5
Loss	2–6	Sep 2006	Beijing, China	International Series	Hard	Marcos Baghdatis	4–6, 0–6
Win	3–6	Oct 2006	St. Petersburg, Russia	International Series	Carpet	Thomas Johansson	7–5, 7–6(7–2)
Loss	3–7	Feb 2008	Marseille, France	International Series	Hard	Andy Murray	3–6, 4–6
Loss	3–8	Feb 2009	Zagreb, Croatia	250 Series	Hard	Marin Čilić	3–6, 4–6

Doubles: 5 (5 titles)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Jul 2003	Indianapolis, United States	International Series	Hard	Andy Ram	Diego Ayala Robby Ginepri	2–6, 7–6(7–3), 7–5
Win	2–0	May 2005	Munich, Germany	International Series	Clay	Julian Knowle	Florian Mayer Alexander Waske	6–3, 1–6, 6–3
Win	3–0	Sep 2006	Beijing, China	International Series	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Michael Berrer Kenneth Carlsen	6–4, 6–3
Win	4–0	Oct 2006	Mumbai, India	International Series	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Rohan Bopanna Mustafa Ghouse	6–4, 6–7(6–8), [10–8]
Win	5–0	Jun 2008	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	International Series	Grass	Jürgen Melzer	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	7–6(7–5), 6–3

Singles: 10 (5–5)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Feb 2000	Croatia F2, Zagreb	Futures	Hard	Ivo Karlović	7–6(16–14), 6–4
Loss	1–1	May 2001	China F2, Kunming City	Futures	Hard	Yves Allegro	4–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss	1–2	Jul 2001	Canada F3, Lachine	Futures	Hard	Benjamin Cassaigne	6–7(3–7), 5–7
Win	2–2	Feb 2002	Belgrade, Yugoslavia	Challenger	Carpet	Nenad Zimonjić	6–2, 6–3
Loss	2–3	Mar 2002	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	Challenger	Hard	Takao Suzuki	4–6, 3–6
Loss	2–4	Mar 2002	Kyoto, Japan	Challenger	Carpet	Takao Suzuki	7–6(7–4), 2–6, 2–6
Win	3–4	Nov 2002	Prague, Czech Republic	Challenger	Hard	Jérôme Golmard	6–1, 6–1
Win	4–4	Dec 2002	Milan, Italy	Challenger	Carpet	Gregory Carraz	4–6, 6–3, 7–6(10–8)
Win	5–4	Feb 2003	Hamburg, Germany	Challenger	Carpet	Rafael Nadal	6–2, 6–3
Loss	5–5	Mar 2010	USA F7, McAllen	Futures	Hard	Artem Sitak	1–6, 4–6

Doubles: 7 (3–4)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Feb 2000	Croatia F1, Zagreb	Futures	Hard	Ivica Ančić	Roko Karanušić Zeljko Krajan	6–4, 5–7, 7–5
Loss	1–1	May 2001	Japan F5, Fukuoka	Futures	Hard	Ivica Ančić	Yaoki Ishii Takahiro Terachi	4–6, 3–6
Loss	1–2	Mar 2002	Kyoto, Japan	Challenger	Carpet	Lovro Zovko	Tuomas Ketola Alexander Waske	4–6, 4–6
Win	2–2	Nov 2002	Helsinki, Finland	Challenger	Hard	Lovro Zovko	Aleksandar Kitinov Jim Thomas	7–6(8–6), 4–6, 6–3
Loss	2–3	Nov 2003	Bratislava, Slovakia	Challenger	Hard	Martin Garcia	Harel Levy Jonathan Erlich	6–7(7–9), 3–6
Loss	2–4	Jan 2010	Heilbronn, Germany	Challenger	Hard	Lovro Zovko	Sonchat Ratiwatana Sanchai Ratiwatana	4–6, 5–7
Win	3–4	Apr 2010	Rome, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Ivan Dodig	Juan Pablo Brzezicki Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo	4–6, 7–6(10–8), [10–4]

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	2000	Australian Open	Hard	Andy Roddick	6–7(2–7), 3–6
Loss	2000	Wimbledon	Grass	Nicolas Mahut	6–3, 3–6, 5–7

Singles

• NMS – from 2009, Hamburg Masters is not Masters Series event
• Davis Cup and World Team Cup matches are included in the statistics.
• 1 – before 2002, he had 4–1 (Carpet: 3–1, Grass: 1–0) score in Davis Cup matches.

Doubles