Tennis Centre on Cmrok Hill: Will Bandic accommodate Iva Majoli again?

The ex-tennis player Iva Majoli plans to build flats in the place of the Tennis Centre Majoli, report the media. Namely, the exclusive lot of approximately 10,000 square meters with tennis courts is supposed to be ''urbanized''. It is questionable how this will be done. In other words, it is questionable whether the Mayor Bandic will dare to make further accommodations to the ex-tennis player.

The main problem lies in the fact that this land should have been taken away from Iva Majoli and her tennis center since she had not met the main condition of being able to obtain, i.e. purchase, this building lot. This would have been impossible if anyone in the city of Zagreb had taken concern. She was supposed to host a WTA tennis tournament!

To be more specific, in 2003 Bandic allowed Iva Majoli to lease these 10,000 square meters for her tennis center where she was supposed to train young talents. Three years later Majoli expressed the wish to buy this lot, which could not have been done without a public tender. To accommodate her, the City of Zagreb conditioned the organization of a WTA women's tennis tournament as the prerequisite of purchasing this lot. To enter the tender, a certificate of the Croatian Tennis Association as well as its Zagreb branch was required, stating that this person had the right to organize a WTA tournament. It is obvious that only Iva Majoli had been able to enter the bid where the City had required almost 34 million HRK for this lot.

Recapitulation of the City of Zagreb on the land sale to Iva Majoli

However, the amount Majoli paid was reduced for some 20 million HRK, so the ex-tennis player had to pay the total price of 14 million HRK within six months. The reason for this reduction, as explained by the City officials, lies within the fact that Iva Majoli had already invested those 20 million HRK in the courts and the center, as estimated by licensed experts.

Moreover, after announcing that the City would sell this attractive land parcel of 10,000 square meters to Iva Majoli, the current head of the city property Ninoslava Zekovic answered to the press that the contract could be breached unless the WTA tournament was organized.

There was no breach of contract although the WTA tournament had never been organized.

The whole story around the tournament was spiced up with a lot of problems. After purchasing the parcel on the hill of Cmrok, in her interviews Iva pointed out her center would be one of the most beautiful in Europe, promising that besides the tennis academy and luxurious wellness center it will be the venue of a prestigious WTA tournament. This did not happen in the next three years.

In the year 2009 Iva was forced to cancel the tournament with the prize fund of 75 thousand US$ which she had agreed to host on a regular basis when meeting the City requirement on the occasion of selling the land in Jurjevska Street.

Majoli was allegedly unable to find sponsors to cover the costs of around 600,000 HRK, which was followed by the decision to cancel the tournament after the deadline. Iva was facing the fine by the International Tennis Association. In the media coverage, Majoli had asked the City for help and had initially been turned down. The same media later claimed that the Mayor Bandic got involved in the story coercing Zagreb to put the necessary means to Iva's disposal, so that the tournament was held in the end. Not in April 2009 as scheduled, but in July and not on Cmrok Hill but in Maksimir Park.

This was not the only case of Bandic's generosity towards Iva Majoli. He allocated her tennis center a flat of 110 square meters in Teslina Street, where her brother allegedly lived instead of the offices of the tennis center. This was then denied by the City.

Bandic's high respect for Iva Majoli is obvious from the fact that he took her and her boyfriend, now ex-husband Stipe Maric to Washington. The event was the grace breakfast traditionally organized by the President of the USA, George Bush at that time, where Iva was the only person outside the political elite who attended the event. On the other hand, Iva Majoli gave public support to Bandic when he decided to enter the presidential elections and helped in his campaign.