Athletics
Portland Magazine
October 19, 2022
Photos by Bob Kerns
FILIP ZIVKOVIC ’10 transferred to UP as an undergraduate tennis player sixteen years ago and never left. As the new head coach of the women’s tennis team, he hopes to create the same sense of community and hospitality for his players that he has found here, first as a player, then as an assistant coach, and now at the helm of a team.
“I look at what Leggs [basketball coach Shantay Legans] has done,” he said. “The way he’s built a family atmosphere, I want that for my team. I want them to win for one another.”
Zivkovic grew up in a war-torn Serbia and remembers the hardships of hyper-inflation and playing on courts that had once been run by the Communist government. Blessed with talent and an industrious work ethic, he soon found himself competing with the best young players in the country, including Novak Djokovic. Coach Zivkovic is tall, strong, and nimble, and imagining him coming to net behind one of his 135 mph serves would fill an opponent with a specific kind of dread. Those who played against him at UP during the season he went a record 18-0 in singles must still have nightmares about trying to slip a passing shot by him. He credits coach Aaron Gross for helping him become one of the most decorated Pilots in program history.
“Gross really knows how to develop players,” he said, “how to prepare them for both the physical and mental parts of the game.” Player development has since become the cornerstone of Zivkovic’s own coaching philosophy. But as much as he cares about the players’ games, he wants above all to be a good mentor.
“I’m somewhere between a friend and a parent,” he said. “It’s not casual, though. There’s a lot of respect there, and it goes both ways.”
Outside the Pilot House a couple weeks after news broke that Zivkovic would be the next head coach, several people approached to congratulate him on the promotion, giving him high fives, fist-bumps, and pats on the back.
“If I weren’t coaching here, I think I’d be doing something else,” he said. “This is the place for me.”
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