WIMBLEDON, England—Ana Ivanovic says that when she was a child, she was nearly perfect in school and her parents thought that eventually she would go to university. Eventually, her mother Dragana and her father Miroslav saw that their daughter could really play tennis and abided to her wishes.

"Ever since I was young, even in school, I was always a perfectionist," the 27-year-old told the *Express*. "I always wanted to do my homework as soon as I got home. Everything had to be done properly. I was as competitive with my schoolwork as I am with my tennis. My parents themselves both went to university and they very much expected me to be an intellectual and go through further education, and it's to kind of their surprise that I became an athlete. But I was the one pushing them."

Ivanovic, who has reached the second round at Wimbledon, said that some other parents force children into sports. "In tennis, a lot of parents are accused of driving their kids into tennis," the Serbian said. "I would say I'm the opposite; I drove my parents into it. They didn't take it that seriously until I was about 11 or 12 years old, when they realized I had an opportunity to go pro."