DUŠAN VEMIĆ
Date of birth: June/ 17th/ 1976
Birthplace: Zadar/Croatia/ Yugoslavia
Plays: right – handed
Residence: Belgrade/ Los Angeles
ATP rankings
singl: 146 – the best ranking made on February 25th,
doubles: 31 – the best ranking made on January 12th 2009
Height: 1.90m /6 ft.3 in
Turned pro: 1995
Retired: 2011
Late start
He broke down theories by which one could not become successful professional, not even reach this competition, unless he started training from the age of four or five. Vemic succeded in all of these things, although he started practicing tennis from the age of 11, in Tennis club Partizan. Before that he was very successful in gymnastics and athletics, which one could notice even today in his game, »spiced« by doing splits or horizontal jumps accross the court, leaving the audience breathless.
He is known for his great team spirit
He has worn national Davis Cup shirt (the first time in May 1996.)
29 times and during this time he scored 20 victories (11 in singles matches, 9 in the doubles).
And since 2013 he started as a Davic Cup Team Serbia Coach
He always helps his colleagues by support and advices, giving them neccessary self – confidence. World coaches see in him future leader as a coach, because his tennis knowledge is brought to perfection.
He played at Olympics in Sydney 2000. with Nenad Zimonjic, in the doubles.
First results
First important result he made as a professional was in 1995 at Yugoslavian satelite where he got incredible 37 points. He played at two junior doubles semi-finals A category – famous Bonfiglio and Orange Bowl with his partner in that time Vladimir Pavicevic. He won challenger trophy in singles in Skopje 1997, and in the same year he became the winner of YU satelite.
Cannon Ball serve!
A specialist for various surfaces – mixture of a clay player and an expert for hardcourts. He was both a player who builds his tactics solely from the base line, and a service voley player. Although he played right-handed, as experienced member of the Serbian Davis Cup national team he was able to surprise his opponents by attractive and effective point with his lefty.
Belgrade audience will never forget Vemić's 47 aces in two matches against Ivory Coast players, just like many other shiny games for his home country. For years he has been one of the strongest supports in the national team, the man of the decision. He brought most important points during the matches and always, no matter of the opponent and the surface, he gave his maximum on the court.
The victories over highly ranked players marked his career. Among those who felt Vemic's cannon ball serve (speed reached 238 kilometers per hour) were Roland Garros finalist Alberto Berasategio, just like: Felisiano Lopez, Tommy Robredo, Richard Gasquet, Fernando Gonzales, Taylor Dent, Max Mirniy, Alex Calatrava, Francisco Clavet, Carlos Costa, Jean Rene Lisnard, Luis Horna, Jeff Morrison, Mariano Zabaleta, Mardy Fish – the Athens Olympics finalist…
Singles
He played challenger finals - Forest Hills (2004. and 2005.) and ATP Newport quarter– finals 2005. (the first time than one Serbian player reached so far on one ATP tournament, since Slobodan Zivojinovic’s success), he played many MD ATP tournaments in recent years – Kitzbuhel, Houston, Gstaad, Delray Beach, Queens, Los Angeles…MD at Garros in 2007. … The best ranking in the singles he made on February 2008. – 146. position on ATP list.
Although the doubles were his preoccupation in 2009, whenever he had a chance to enter qualifications ATP tournaments he tried, quite successfully to play even singles. On the last two – Los Angeles and New Heaven he reached the finals of the qualifications, having won the match against the famous French Richard Gasquet.
Doubles
Dusan played doubles finals in pair with Alex Calatrava at ATP tournament in Kitzbuhel 1998. With Marat Safin, world super star, he has a doubles title. A new start began for Dusan since 2007. He reached final at challenger in Binghampton, challenger semi-finals in Segovia and the Bermudas, futures finals and two semi-finals in the States, and he also reached several main draws of ATP tournaments, MD of Roland Garros, and after many years he became one of 200. top world players, again.
Vemic also has a great number of titles and finals in the doubles (challengers, futures), semi-finals and quarter– finals of ATP tournaments. Still, the best results came in 2008: he won challengers (Miami, Sunrise, Cremona, Vako), played challenger finals (Dresden, Bordeaux, Lubbock, Louisville), reached Roland Garros semi-finals with a Brazilian Bruno Soares, whom he played together at the US open, where they got to the quarter-finals. With American Travis Parrot he played doubles final at ATP Los Angeles.
All these successes brought him the best doubles ranking in his career – 31. place on ATP list.
The last tournament was played in 2011, when he retired from the game, and so began his coaching career.
Following his professional career, Dusan has gone on to coaching and consulting for some of the world’s highest ranked tennis players such as Novak Djokovic, Andrea Petkovic, Ksenija Pervak, Filip Krajinovic and The Bryan Brothers and holds a coaching certification reserved for only a small number of elite coaches in the tennis world.
17 full seasons on Professional TENNIS Tour (ATP),
Coach on both ATP And WTA tennis Tours,
Davis Cup coach of Serbia
PTR - certified coach (Adult Development Professional)
USPTA - (Professional 1)
GPTCA - (A level)
Neda Miletić
PR SerbianTennisAsosiation