Iva Jovic may have lost her quarter-final against world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, but her name is on everyone’s lips at the Open.
The impressive American teenager has a fan in tennis legend Novak Djokovic, among others.
Iva Jovic’s star is on the rise in world tennis.Credit: Penny Stephens
After earlier exchanging messages with the fellow player of Serbian background, as we reported in this blog, the 10-time AO champion texted Jovic again with tips, she told reporters after losing to Sabalenka earlier today.
“So we’ve been in communication and I feel like we’ve built a little bit of a relationship now, which is amazing, and I wish him all the best for the rest of the tournament, and hopefully throughout the year I can keep having more moments with him and encouragement because it’s been amazing,” Jovic said.
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She said she had tried to learn from Djokovic’s playing style.
“I think it was Andre Agassi who made the comparison of Novak to a boxer and the way that he’s going in for punches and then taking them out a little bit,” Jovic said.
“I think the way that he approaches the match is very impressive, and hopefully one day I can emulate that.”
Speaking at a separate press conference in Serbian later, Jovic said she was planning to rest at home in California for the next little while before heading back on tour, to the Middle East and the tournaments in the US.
But first, she’d like to take a cruise along the Yarra with her sister, who arrived in Melbourne yesterday.
“We were meant to do that on Sunday, but I kept on winning,” Jovic quipped.
The teenager said she was chuffed to have received high praise from the likes of Djokovic, Sabalenka and other tennis greats, but that it was also nice to hear from non-tennis people who were kind and honest.