Iva Jovic talks meeting idol Novak Djokovic after US Open first round win

NEW YORK—Some say “never meet your heroes,” but Iva Jovic had no complaints after getting face time with idol Novak Djokovic earlier this summer, recalling the surprise introduction after a first-round victory at the 2025 US Open.

“Now I can officially say I know him,” Jovic said following a 7-6 (6), 6-3 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich. “I’m really happy about that.”

The 17-year-old daughter of Serbian immigrants was practicing with coach Kathy Rinaldi at Wimbledon when the 24-time Grand Slam champion appeared, Rinaldi taking the initiative on behalf of her starstruck pupil.

“She will go for it,” Jovic teased. “That’s one thing about Kathy. I love her so much. We were practicing on the indoor courts at Wimbledon and he just walked in to a court close to us. His son was playing, and Kathy was like, ‘Let’s go up to him right now!’ I was like, ‘Kathy!’

“He just wished me luck and told me to keep working,” she added. “It was kind of just a little bit of an introduction. I met Jelena there too, and his sons were playing. It was just so cool. There was nothing super specific said but just the way he talks, he has a thing about himself where you can tell that he’s great. Not even seeing him on the tennis court, he has that presence, which is super cool.”

Into the second round of three out of four Grand Slam tournaments this season, the world No. 73 cited Belinda Bencic and Iga Swiatek among her tennis inspirations, but the Southern California native is currently all in on defending US Open champion Jannik Sinner.

“Right now, I’m having such a blast with the Carlos-Sinner rivalry,” said Jovic, who will next face No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini. “I will say Sinner is my favorite. I like watching him play, so I guess he could be my model right now. I’ll take anything that he does!”

Jovic has enjoyed a steady rise up the rankings this season, winning her first WTA 125K title on grass earlier this summer at the Ilkley Open, and feels her time at the lower-tier tournaments have been ideal preparation for the Grand Slam stage.

“I think it’s just match counts,” said Jovic. “You have a lot more matches that you get in those tournaments and you just really have to grind. If you want to get here, you have to win at that level. You can’t just win a round and lose; you have to really clean up and win those tournaments. It teaches that discipline where, every day you have to show up and take care of business, and that’s big going into the bigger events.

It was always Novak growing up. We watched him so much, so he’s definitely been an inspiration, not just with how he plays but also his mentality and everything. Now I can officially say I know him! Iva Jovic

“It goes to show that the level gap is not necessarily that huge coming from those tournaments since a lot of the girls come from those and immediately have good stuff on the WTA tour. I think it’s great, honestly. I love the ITFs!”

At the rate she’s going, Jovic won’t have to return to the proverbial minor leagues any time soon, nor will they be top of mind as she aims to improve on her narrow loss to Paolini from earlier this year.

“I think it’s going to be super fun,” said Jovic. “Obviously, she just had a great week in Cincinnati. She’s in good form. I played a match with her in Indian Wells. It was good stuff. It was a close three-setter, so I’m excited to get the chance to go and play her again because those are the experiences that are good for me right now.

“There’s just nothing like a home Slam, I think.”