Ana Ivanovic is relishing the experience of competing in the Hopman Cup after seeing Serbia off to a winning start on Sunday.
Ivanovic defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6, 6-1 and then teamed up with Novak Djokovic to beat Shvedova and Andrey Golubev 7-6, 6-4 in the mixed doubles as Serbia whitewashed Kazakhstan 3-0.
"It was good fun, it was really. I was saying to Novak that this was the best I’ve ever played mixed doubles in my whole life, so it was really enjoyable," Ivanovic said afterwards. "We have said in Serbia ‘Everything is good if it finishes good’, so we are really happy to have that victory. It was an important one, not only for the team, but also for ourselves individually. I think it’s great to start the year with a win and to build on it."
However things will only get tougher and they play the experienced Australia side of Lleyton Hewitt and Alicia Molik on Wednesday.
Still Ivanovic was delighted to continue from where she left off at the end of 2010 after enjoying a brilliant run of form in the autumn, winning two titles.
"For me I was sad the year finished. It was so short. It was really good and I really tried and I hope to build on that. It definitely gives me a lot of confidence. Having won two titles in the last three events I’ve played – its important stuff for me," she said.
"Now I’ll just try to work hard, and I have a new coach and it’s going well. Hopefully this year I can get back to top 10 and that will be my main goal - but still taking it step-by-step and trying to enjoy the process as well and hopefully get there."
