Participation in the last European football championship and the elimination of Italy from the World Cup play-offs. Fourth place at EuroBasket 2011. Fifth place at the European Handball Championship with numerous successes at the club level.
For a country like North Macedonia, which has a little less than 2 million inhabitants, these are exceptional sporting achievements. However, in men’s tennis, Macedonia is far from the top of the world, with the hope that things will improve in the near future. Their trump card is first of all the young Kalin Ivanovski .
We present to you a list of the five best ranked tennis players from North Macedonia of all time, when the ranking on the ATP list is taken as a criterion.
And no, this list will not feature Darko Grnčarov.
5. TOMISLAV JOTOVSKI (#510)
We start the list with the little-known Tomislav Jotovski, who is still active and competes mainly in Futures.
Welcome Tomislav Jotovski, singles ATP no 813 (best 510), doubles ATP no 626 (best 541). Best of luck! pic.twitter.com/FCvcM3PRwW
— ProSport Angels (@ProSportAngels) May 30, 2017
Jotovski is 32 years old and his career best singles ranking was No. 510 on June 15, 2015. In the Davis Cup, he has a record of 14 wins and 13 losses for Macedonia. It is interesting that he played in the Davis Cup in 2012 against Grigor Dimitrov and was defeated 0-6, 0-6.
4. LAZAR MAGDINCEV (#339)
Next on the list is Lazar Magdinčev. This former tennis player recorded victories in his career against very successful tennis players such as Ernests Gulbis (#10 best ranking) and Gilles Miller (#21), but he never managed to move beyond the 339th place in the ATP list, which he occupied on November 28, 2005.
Together with Predrag Rusevski, he also won a Challenger title in doubles in Brasov, Romania.
3. KALIN IVANOVSKI (#305)
On the third place of our list is a tennis player who will almost certainly become the best Macedonian tennis player of all time in the years to come. Kalin Ivanovski is only 19 years old and is already at the 305th position on the ATP list, a position he currently holds as of October 16, 2023.
Para tenerlo en el radar 🔍
Kalin Ivanovski 🇲🇰 se metió entre los mejores 🎱 del Challenger de Iasi venciendo a Filip Jianu 6-3 4-6 y 6-3.
✅El macedonio de 19 años jugará sus primeros cuartos de final a nivel Challenger pic.twitter.com/HW2uXSXLjW
— Iván Aguilar (@ivabianconero) July 12, 2023
Even as a junior, Ivanovski drew attention to himself by reaching the quarterfinals of the junior Wimbledon in 2022, which indicated that he is ready for great deeds. At the same tournament, he reached the round of 16 a year earlier. In the Davis Cup, he has already become the leader of the Macedonian national team with a score of 10 wins and two losses, and he is slowly establishing himself as a regular participant in the Challenger tournament and it seems that it is only a matter of time before he makes a big breakthrough towards the top 200 in the world. For start.
2. ALEKSANDAR KITINOV (#296)
On April 29, 1996, Aleksandar Kitinov reached the 296th place in the ATP list, which currently makes him the second best ranked Macedonian tennis player of all time.
This former tennis player had much more success in doubles, where he reached the 38th place in the ATP doubles list on November 15, 1999. At the Grand Slam tournaments, his greatest success was the third round of Wimbledon in the doubles competition in 2001. He also won 3 titles at ATP doubles tournaments.
1. PREDRAG RUSEVSKI (#242)
Predrag Rusevski won 10 Futures titles in his career and is the player with the most played matches in the history of the Macedonian Davis Cup team with 42 appearances and a score of 23-19.
He achieved the best ranking in his career on February 11, 2008, when he was on the 242nd place of the ATP list, which makes him the best Macedonian tennis player of all time when it comes to singles competition. He played one match on the ATP tour in his career, in 2007 in Umag, Croatia, when he was defeated as a “lucky loser” in the first round by Viktor Troicki 3-6, 6-1, 4-6. In doubles, he was ranked 248th in the world.
