Iva Jovic isn’t one to let the hype go to her head.
In fact, quite the opposite. Talking to the affable Jovic, it might be easy to mistake her as just another teenager instead of one of the brightest young talents on the WTA tour. She enjoys hanging out with friends, hiking and catching waves on her bodyboard but regular life is less accessible now.
Jovic, who is third seed at the ASB Classic, is on the cusp of stardom. The Los Angeles native has rocketed from No 191 to No 35 in the past 12 months and last year she was the youngest player on tour (17) to win a title. People have noticed, with all sorts of tennis luminaries anointing her as the next big thing. That can be a tough label, especially for an American, in the land of hype and dreams, but Jovic seems genuinely unaffected.
“I don’t think I get too wrapped up in the clouds and that’s definitely my strength,” Jovic told the Herald. “I like to keep my head down and work hard because I’ve come a long way but the moment that you get a little bit too comfortable and a little bit too complacent with where you are, that’s when you stop pushing yourself.
“So I try to just keep pushing myself every day and not get wrapped up in the rankings and this and that. Ultimately, I want to be the best player that I can be and that just takes hard work every day.”
That attitude was helped by her unusual path. Unlike many on the circuit, Jovic never planned to be a professional tennis player.
“I would say it’s more like tennis chose me a little bit,” said Jovic. “It wasn’t really on the cards or in my vision. I wanted to get a college scholarship because I wanted to get free tuition and I played a lot of sports growing up.”
While Jovic was an accomplished tennis player, she was also a talented footballer, centre or left midfield, and adept at swimming and gymnastics. The fork in the road was the Covid pandemic in 2020.
“During Covid, I couldn’t play soccer anymore, so I decided to just play tennis,” Jovic said. “It was the only thing available and I got a lot better at it. So then I just got addicted to the winning and then you win some more, you win some more, and then the [going to] college thing just went out the door a little bit. So I wouldn’t say it was on my radar growing up, but I love playing, so to be able to do it as a profession is pretty cool.”
Her junior CV was impressive, with various national titles and deep runs at major tournaments, but her fame really took off at the 2024 US Open. Given a wildcard as a 16-year-old, she stunned Poland’s experienced Magda Linette – defying a rankings disparity of almost 350 places – and put herself firmly in the spotlight.
She describes life on tour as “fun” but “challenging”. It’s been a novelty to visit new cities but the job – and the pressure – is unforgiving, especially for younger players.
“I think I’m fortunate,” said Jovic, whose mother is Croatian and father is Serbian. “It’s a lot about the people around you and I’ve been pretty lucky to have great coaches, great family members. No one puts a lot of pressure on me and everyone just tries to keep it as light and as fun as you can. So it’s been challenging, sure, but the support that I have has helped carry me through it.”
Jovic is on a positive trajectory but you can never be too comfortable and she admits the mental side of the sport is “not easy”.
“I have the highs and lows, and I play in a very intense way mentally,” Jovic said. “That’s how I function best but it’s hard to keep that intensity through tournament month. It gets a little tricky for me to keep that in balance and that’s what I’m working on right now, just trying to level myself and be able to play at that intensity every single match.”
That was evident on Wednesday, as Jovic overcame Czech world No 92 Sara Bejlek 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. Jovic couldn’t take a couple of set point opportunities late in the first set but immediately reset, secured an imperious tiebreak and was mostly in control throughout the second, before converting her first match point.
Jovic, who turned 18 last December, is enjoying her first visit to Auckland, though she has yet to do any sightseeing, saying that Mission Bay is on her shortlist.
“In a new city I try to get out as much as I can, but I haven’t had so much time yet,” Jovic said. “My mom and sister went to the Lumineers concert [on Tuesday] night. Unfortunately, I don’t think a concert the night before a match would have been a smart idea, but I try to do things like that and just get to know the culture a little bit every time I travel.”
She has been impressed with the crowd support and the experience of playing doubles against Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina on Monday was “already a career highlight”.
One imagines there is a lot more to come. Jovic has some “big goals” but doesn’t go into detail, perhaps sensibly.
“There are a lot of things I want to do but right now it’s just one day at a time and just getting a little bit better every day,” Jovic said.
In the other singles match on Wednesday afternoon, Briton Francesca Jones completed an impressive turnaround against Austrian qualifier Sinja Kraus. The world No 74, who upset second seed Emma Navarro on Monday night, looked on the brink of elimination before coming back to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in 2h 6m. After trailing 3-0 in the second set, the 25-year-old grabbed a foothold in the match to arrest the slide and took 12 of the last 14 games.
Michael Burgess has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America’s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast.