Reaching the Apex Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tennis

Novak Djokovic set a new benchmark of 428 weeks as the number one ranked male player in the world and has finished as the year-end number one ranked player at least eight times. He has won 24 Grand Slam singles titles, made up of ten Australian Opens, three French Opens, seven Wimbledon titles and four US Opens. Essentially, he's won a career Slam on three different surfaces, making him one of the most successful tennis players to have ever graced the courts.

Answer: Tennis

When Ana won the French Open in 2008, she also became the number one ranked female tennis player in the world, a position that she maintained for 12 weeks. That would prove to be her only Grand Slam tournament victory, though she did make the finals of both the French Open (2007) and the Australian Open (2008). She retired in 2016 with 15 career titles to her name.

Answer: Tennis

Jelena turned professional in the year 2000 and retired in 2022 without having won a Grand Slam singles title. Her best result was a runner up finish in the 2008 US Open, a result that elevated her to the number one ranked female tennis player in the world.

However, she does have one Grand Slam trophy to place on her mantle, when she combined with Jamie Murray to defeat Jonas Bjorkman and Alicia Molik in the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles final in 2007.

Answer: Tennis

Nenad became the second Serbian, after Slobodan Zivojinovic in 1986, to be ranked number one in the world in doubles. He achieved the feat in November of 2008 and, over the next two years, would spend fifty weeks in the top spot. He is an eight time Grand Slam champion, having won the Wimbledon doubles titles in 2008 and 2009 and the French Open in 2010, all in partnership with Daniel Nestor.

He also collected five mixed doubles titles at Grand Slams, partnering Sun Tiantian to win the Australian Opens in 2004 and 2008, Katarina Srebotnik to claim the French Opens in 2006 and 2010 and with Sam Stosur to win at Wimbledon in 2014.

Answer: Tennis

Monica Seles won the French Open singles title in 1990. Remarkably, she was only sixteen at the time, setting a new record as the youngest-ever winner of that clay court title. The following year she was the number one ranked female tennis player in the world and won three Grand Slam titles; the Australian Open, the French (again) and the US Open.

She dominated world tennis until 1993 when she was the victim of a stabbing by an obsessed fan of her rival Steffi Graf. This put her out of the game for two years and whilst she did enjoy further success, winning nine Grand Slam titles in all, she never revealed the same form that she held before that attack.

Answer: Basketball

In the late 1980s Vlade Divac was among the first group of European basketballers to make their way across to the United States to play in National Basketball Association. Standing a little over seven feet in height he played centre and was renowned for his passing ability ... a talent not often associated with centres. Named in the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) All-Time Eurostars Team in 2007, he was one of the rare NBA players to achieve the feat of 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists, and 1,500 blocked shots during his career.

In fact, at the time of writing (2024), he shares that honour with only six other players. He has been inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame (2010) and also the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.

He has represented Yugoslavia at two Olympic Games (1988 and 1996), helping his country to two silver medals.

Answer: Basketball

In his time, Slavnic was considered to be one of the best European point guards of all time. So much so that he was listed as one of FIBA's "50 Greatest Players" in 1991 and, in 2013, was inducted into FIBA's Hall of Fame. Slavnic was a showman who played on instinct and his instincts were usually on the mark.

Whilst he didn't taste the success of victory at club level, he was showered with victories when he played for his national team. He completed his career in 1983 as one of the rare players to have won a Continental Championship gold medal (the EuroBaskets of 1973, 1975 and 1977), a World Cup gold medal (1978) and an Olympic gold medal in Moscow in 1980.

Answer: Basketball

Drazen is another who has been listed among FIBA's "50 Greatest Players" and was inducted into their Hall of Fame. In 1978, his performances were of such a high standard that he was voted "Athlete of the Year" in Yugoslavia. Like his compatriot, Zoran Slavnic, he too has achieved the rare feat of winning gold medals at three different championships. First there was gold at the EuroBasket in 1973, 1975 and 1977, gold at the 1978 FIBA World Cup and gold at the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980. Dalipagic would go a step further than Zoran, winning gold at the Mediterranean Games in 1975.

He would also be immortalized in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004.

Answer: Basketball

Radivoj lost his life in a car crash at the age of 30. However, in that short time he'd established such a record that FIBA named him one of the game's "50 Greatest Players" and had the cup for the European third-tier competition named in his honour. Korac was a power forward, and his greatest talent was his ability to score.

In a game against Alviks in the EuroLeague in 1958, he set the record for the most points in a game (99 points) that, as at 2024, was still the benchmark.

Answer: Basketball

Dragan Kicanovic was so good that he was named Yugoslavia's Best Basketballer of the 20th Century. A tall shooting guard, Dragan would win just about anything that you could win in European basketball. Gold medals at the Olympic Games (1980 in Moscow), the World Cup, the EuroBasket and the Mediterranean Games.

In 1980 and 1981 he would win both the Mr. Europa and the Euroscar European Player of the Year awards and, in 2010, he was elevated to the FIBA Hall of Fame.

Answer: Other Sports

Football/Soccer Nemanja Vidic, a football centre-back, is considered by many to be one of the greatest defenders in the history of the game. Making his senior debut in 2002 he was a member of Serbia & Montenegro's miserly defense unit, known as the "Famous Four", that conceded just a solitary goal during their ten qualifying matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

He transferred to Manchester United from Spartak Moscow in 2006; and formed a formidable partnership in the backline with Rio Ferdinand during one of that club's most productive periods. Eventually, he would serve as captain of the club and he would walk away with 15 League trophies.

He became the third footballer to win the Premier League Player of the Year Award on two occasions (2009 and 2011).

The first two were Thierry Henry (2004 and 2006) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2007 and 2008).

Answer: Other Sports

Taekwondo
Milica entered the 2011 Taekwondo World Championships as a twenty year old and walked away with a bronze medal. The following year, at the London Summer Olympic Games she won gold and, in the process, became the first gold medalist for the independent Serbia. In 2017 she became the World Champion and then won her second Olympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Retiring from the sport, she has been inducted into the International Taekwondo Hall of Fame and has been praised for her raising the level of awareness of the sport in her region.

Answer: Other Sports

Volleyball
You could say that volleyball lay in the genes of the Grbic family. Vladimir is a three time Olympian and a member of the International Volleyball Hall of Fame. His father was a former Olympic volleyball player and Vladimir's younger brother, Nikola, followed in his footsteps as a two time Olympian and then being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Standing 193 centimetres in height, Vladimir was a passer-side attacker who was feared for his powerful spikes and regarded as one of the finest passers in the game. The winner of a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he would win a silver medal at the World Championships in 1998 and seal his greatness with a gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

Answer: Other Sports

Sport Shooting
You know that you're highly regarded in your sport when you are named as your country's flag bearer at the opening ceremony of an Olympic Games. That honour was bestowed upon Jasna at the 2008 Games, held in Beijing. She has been named, several times, as the Sportswoman of the Year in Yugoslavia and, in 1988 and 1994, she was awarded the Golden Badge of Sport as the best athlete in the country.

The ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) has labelled her as one of the most successful shooters in their history. This has been evidenced by Jasna having won five medals from seven Olympic Games, including a gold, three silver and a bronze. Remarkably, while never changing her nationality, Jasna has competed at those seven Games, under four different flags. In 1988 she represented Yugoslavia, she was an Independent Olympic Participant in 1992, the next two games were under the flag of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and, since then, she has competed for Serbia and Montenegro.

Answer: Other Sports

Handball
In 2010 the International Handball Association (IHA) voted Svetlana Kitic, the Best Female Handball Player... ever.

Her professional career commenced in 1976, at the tender age of sixteen, and it spanned 30 years. So long that she wound up playing her last season (2006) alongside her eldest daughter Mara. A fearsome player she represented Yugoslavia at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, where she played all five matches, scored 29 goals and walked away with a silver medal. She went one better, winning gold, at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, once again, playing all five games and scoring 22 goals. In all, she played 202 international matches and scored a staggering 911 goals.