April 4, 2007
By Miquel Jacobs, South Carolina Media Relations
As one of three Serbians participating in varsity athletics at the University of South Carolina, it is almost impossible to pinpoint the one thing that led to Ana Marija Zubori’s decision to travel across the globe to join the Carolina women’s tennis team.
She could attribute it to the Kosovo War that started in 1996 and lasted three years, leading to the 1999 NATO bombing of her hometown of Novi Sad, Serbia.
She could backtrack five years to when she was 7 years old and began playing tennis alongside her friend Natasa Vuckovic.
Or the freshman could think even further back to 1989 when Serbian native Monica Seles made her professional debut and finished her first year ranked No. 6 in the world. Whatever the reason, Zubori’s decision has proven to be a great one for the Gamecocks, as she is currently 27-5 overall and is part of a doubles team that has been ranked as high as 18th nationally.
Zubori claimed four junior national championships before heading to Carolina: two from France and two from Serbia. Her dual citizenship stems from difficulties in competing due to the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s.
“I was 12 and the war started in Serbia, making it difficult to continue playing in the national tournaments in tennis,” Zubori said. “For me, it wasn’t logical. My sister was still in France, so I moved there because I had a visa to go to school there. I have two passports, so I played for the French National Teams.”
Zubori calls Serbia home because she was born there and her family is from Serbia, but she feels grateful for everything France has done for her, and rightfully so. She won the under-14 and under-16 French National Junior Championships in addition to the Serbian National Junior Championships for under-18 and under-21 women.
“When you’re young and you play national championships, you have one goal which is to win because then you earn a spot on the national team and you play in big tournaments,” Zubori said. “I was motivated, and you don’t realize when you play tournaments week to week. You just want to win the next match and then one month later you’re like, `I won the tournament.’ It’s a big thing because it gives you the energy to keep going and continue to practice.”
However, the final championship in Serbia is what really captured Zubori’s heart and increased her motivation to continue doing well on the courts.
“I was happy because having both (country’s championships) was great for me,” Zubori said. “In Serbia, my father died five days before the national championship. I was like `OK then, I’m going to play this tournament.’ I was motivated even though I didn’t practice for about 10 days before the tournament and still I won. It was a big motivation for me and that’s why I’m so happy that I won the last one in Serbia.”
At the time, the championships were the highlight of a young career for a girl who, like every other girl in Serbia, grew up idolizing Monica Seles. Seles also came from Novi Sad and was one of the reasons why Zubori kicked her basketball hobby in exchange for concentrating solely on tennis.
“I was 7 and Monica Seles was No. 1 in the world,” Zubori said. “She’s from the same town in Serbia where I come from. My first coach was her first coach, too. She was like a big idol for everybody in Serbia, so that’s why I started playing tennis. I saw her all the time on TV, and I wanted to do the same thing that she did. I played Junior Grand Slams, so I met her when she played her first match. That was a really big day for me, and she gave me her outfit from her last match. I was so happy.”
Much like Seles eventually moved to Florida and competed for America in the 2000 Olympics, Zubori decided to take her talents west and found an immediate “home” situation in Columbia. Her childhood friend Vuckovic was a sophomore for South Carolina, and assistant coach Katarina Petrovic hails from Valjevo, Serbia.
“That’s why I wanted to come here because I already knew somebody,” Zubori said. “I didn’t want to go to another continent and another country and not know anybody. That was the main reason I came. South Carolina is in a big conference, probably the best in the country, where I can give my best and play my best.”
With a familiar face from home and a freshman on the volleyball team also from Serbia, Zubori found the transition to being a collegiate student-athlete to be relatively easy. The few problems that she encountered saw quick help from Vuckovic, and she didn’t have many problems adjusting to academics either.
A former No. 1 junior in France and top-50 junior player in the world, Zubori’s thoughts toward the end of her freshman campaign are far from hitting the professional circuit. Her main focus and sole goal is to complete her education while doing her part as a team member, and it seems to be working with Carolina’s 7-1 SEC start being the best in school history.
“At this point, I just want to play my best,” Zubori said. “I practiced a lot last season and my tennis is pretty good, so I don’t have expectations like how many matches I want to win. I just want to win the next match. When you go on the tennis court, your goal is to win the match, and that’s how I think about it. I don’t have individual goals; I just want the team to do well and play in the NCAA Tournament.”
