The Tamesis
Last night and into this morning, two American players, Iva Jovic and Learner Tien, reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in Melbourne – 18-year-old Jovic defeated veteran Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 6-1 Putintseva); Tenn, who just turned 20, defeated Grand Slam champion and former world number one Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 in a similar manner.
For Jovic in particular, the rise in the tennis rankings has been dizzying. This time a year ago she was ranked 191st (currently ranked 27th, but will rise depending on where she ends up in Melbourne). But since the start of the new season, she has compiled an 11-2 record, the best record in professional tennis, and easily won the first set against Putintseva in just 53 minutes, losing just nine points. In the process, she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Became Australia’s youngest woman to reach the quarter-finals since Venus Williams in 1998; she remains the youngest woman ranked in the tennis top 100 and the youngest player in the championship. This all came after her first win over a top-10 player, world number eight Jasmine Paolini, in the previous round. (Coincidentally, in the second round of the US Open last year, when reporters saw Jovic playing live for the first time, Paolini completely suppressed her.)
Jovic grew up in Torrance, California, and has been playing tennis since she was five years old (she now lives in Los Angeles). She has had great success in both junior singles and doubles, most recently playing doubles with Canadian talent Victoria Mboko and making her professional debut on the ITF circuit in 2022. But if there’s anything more impressive than Jovic’s meteoric rise since then, it’s her attitude. She remains calm and collected at all times, both during and after the game when evaluating the play. (It doesn’t hurt that she’s been taking advice from childhood tennis hero and now friend Novak Djokovic.)
