PORTLAND, Ore. – University of Portland has promoted Filip Zivkovic to head coach of the women's tennis program, Vice President for Athletics Scott Leykam announced on Thursday. Zivkovic served in an interim head coaching capacity for the 2021-22 season after spending the previous 10 years as an assistant coach with the Pilots.

"Filip has poured his heart and soul into University of Portland Athletics since stepping foot on campus as a student-athlete 16 years ago," Leykam said. "His energy, work ethic and willingness to learn will position him well to lead our women's tennis program for years to come. Filip is so well-respected on campus and embodies the family culture we strive to create in our department. The feedback we received from support staff, colleagues and most-importantly student-athletes made it clear that Filip was ready to take on this challenge and we are excited to see where he can take the program."

"I am beyond excited and grateful to be named the next women's tennis head coach at the University of Portland," Zivkovic said. "I want to thank President Herbert Medina, Scott Leykam and Jason Brough for this incredible opportunity, and I will work tirelessly to elevate the program to new heights. University of Portland has been my home for the past 16 years and becoming a head coach at this institution is dream come true.

"I would also like to thank Aaron Gross, who believed in me 16 years ago and brought me to the University of Portland as a player. I will be forever grateful to Susie Campbell who gave me the opportunity to coach with her and mentored me over the last eleven years, ironing some of the rough edges and helping me find my coaching voice. Lastly, I would like to thank my wife for the undying support and all the sacrifices that she was willing to make to allow me to pursue my coaching dreams."

Zivkovic coached Iva Zelic to a national ranking in singles this past spring, just the fourth player in program history to crack the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. Zelic won 20 total singles matches and earned All-West Coast Conference second team honors in singles, while Rimona Rouf and Sally Pethybridge garnered All-WCC honorable mention recognition in doubles.

In addition to the three All-WCC players returning, Portland will bring back Aleksandra Dimitrijevic who finished the season strong with a 4-2 WCC singles record. Zivkovic also signed the highest-rated recruit in program history and top-rated WCC incoming recruit in five-star prospect Meagan Pearson last fall.

Off the court, the Pilots achieved remarkable success in the classroom by recording a 3.71 team cumulative grade-point average in the fall and 3.75 GPA in the spring.

In his role as an assistant coach with Portland, Zivkovic helped the program record some notable achievements highlighted by a runner-up finish at the 2015 WCC Championships which included a Top 50 national team ranking, having two players individually ranked in the same season (Lucia Butkovska and Maja Mladenovic), defeating a top 50 opponent (No. 33 Saint Mary's), beating in-state rival Oregon, and finishing second in both the WCC regular season and conference tournament. He also helped assemble the No. 7-ranked recruiting class in the nation in 2013.

Zivkovic had a decorated career as a collegiate player with the Pilots which included serving as Team Captain from 2007-10. He earned All-WCC first team honors in singles twice (2008, 2009) and doubles three times (2007, 2009, 2010). Zivkovic recorded a perfect 18-0 dual singles record in 2008 and was ranked as high as No. 30 nationally in doubles. He recorded a combined singles and doubles record of 113-40.