At the age of 18, Iva Jovic has already started to make her name in the world of women’s tennis.
A two-time Grand Slam doubles champion at the junior level, Jovic claimed her maiden WTA title last year in Mexico and was the youngest player on the Tour to win a trophy during that season. In January, she experienced her best major run to date as a professional by reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open without dropping a set, becoming the youngest American to do so since Venus Williams in 1998. Currently ranked 16th in the world, she is one of two players her age in the top 20. The other is No.10 Mirra Andreeva.
Californian-born Jovic has been largely inspired by her idol Novak Djokovic, who is from the same country as her father, Bojan. Her mother, Jelena, is from Croatia. Jovic’s parents worked as pharmacists and emigrated to America during the early 2000s via the green card lottery system.
“It’s unbelievable what he’s done as a player,” Jovic said of Djokovic when speaking to reporters in Charleston.
“But the most impressive thing to me is just him as a person, everything he does that makes him a good tennis player. A lot of it is off the court. He’s doing a lot of things to calm his mind, to be a better, more well-rounded person. More than in those moments on the court, that’s what makes him better, because there are such fine margins in tennis.”
It is the mental aspect of 24-time major winner Djokovic that is having the biggest impact on the youngster, who has made some changes to follow in his footsteps.
“He meditates a lot. He just knows himself very well. I’ve started to make some changes in my own routines, as well, trying to incorporate as much as I can from people like Novak. Obviously, you just need to find what works well for you.” She continued.
Djokovic isn’t the only idol for Jovic, who hopes to one day get in touch with Andre Agassi. Agassi won 60 singles titles during his career, which include eight Grand Slams and 17 Masters 1000 events.
“Andre is a special guy, and I think the way he talks about tennis is fascinating,” she said.
“It’s obvious that he’s a very, very smart individual. It’s very calculated, like a chess match the way he speaks about the game. It’s very cool. Hopefully, I can speak with him in the future.”
Jovic’s immediate focus is on the Charleston Open, where she is seeded fourth in the draw. It will be only the third time she has played at a clay-court event ranked 250 or higher on the WTA Tour. Her other two appearances were last year in Bogota, Colombia and at the French Open. At both of those events, she reached the second round.
“I didn’t know how to slide at all (on clay),” she joked with reporters about playing on the surface. “I didn’t know anything about it. I worked a lot in the past two years to get more comfortable on the clay, and I think now I’m in a much better place.”
`Jovic will make her Charleston debut against Alycia Parks on Wednesday.
