US Open: 16-year-old Californian Iva Jovic beats Magda Linette in the first round

AP Tennis Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Iva Jovic, a 16-year-old from California, became the youngest American to win a women’s main-draw match at the U.S. Open since 2000, eliminating 2023 Australian Open semifinalist Magda Linette of Poland 6-4, 6-3 on Monday.

“Surprised, but not surprised,” Jovic said about the result against someone who’s been ranked in the top 20.

“I just had a plan about what I was going to do before we started, and there weren’t that many needs for crazy adjustments, because it was going well,” Jovic said. “So just kind of sticking to that.”

Katrina Scott of the U.S. was 16 when she won a match at the U.S. Open four years ago. Last year, Mirra Andreeva of Russia was 16 when she did it.

Here’s one indication of Jovic’s youth: She still is planning to enter the junior event later in the tournament. Here’s another: Jovic is still in school, taking online courses through a program she described as “convenient and … very lenient.”

Jovic grew up participating in a bunch of sports, including soccer, gymnastics and swimming. But she gravitated to tennis, which she began learning alongside her older sister on courts built atop the apartment complex in Torrance, California, they lived in.

“I want to be the best that I can be,” Jovic said. “Just get better every day, honestly. Just keep working. I’m on a good path, but there’s a lot more to do.”

She earned a wild-card entry for the main bracket at the year’s last Grand Slam tournament by winning the U.S. Tennis Association Girls’ 18s national championship. She also paired with Tyra Grant there to take the doubles title, which gave them a wild card for women’s doubles at Flushing Meadows; the USTA granted Jovic and another American teen, Kaylan Bigun, a spot in the mixed doubles field, too.

Jovic and Grant teamed up to win junior doubles titles at the Australian Open in January and Wimbledon in July; they also were the runners-up at the French Open in June.

Jovic’s favorite players are 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic — he’s Serbian, and so are her roots; after the English portion of her news conference concluded Monday, she answered questions in Serbian — and Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic.

Why?

“Djokovic, I mean, do I need to say? We all know how great he is,” Jovic responded. “And then Belinda, she just takes the ball so early and her footwork is very cutting the angle, so she just makes her opponents feel kind of suffocated. That’s what I would like to try to do.”

Jovic would love the chance to have a conversation with Djokovic, but their lone interaction so far was when she asked if he would mind posing for a photo.

“I do have a selfie,” she said with a smile. “It doesn’t look great, but it’s there.”

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