Ivanović was born in Belgrade in Serbia (which used to be in Yugoslavia). She watched tennis on television when she was five years old, and said, "I loved watching tennis on television, particularly Monica Seles." While she was growing up, the country was bombed by NATO, so she had to arrange her training to avoid this. She would even practice tennis in an empty swimming pool during the winter. When she was 14 years old, she was asked what she dreamed of in tennis, she replied "To become the No. 1 magic player in the world." Her Serbian tennis teacher introduced her to a Swiss businessman who agreed to hire a coach and pay for Ivanović's training in Switzerland.