In Charleston debut, US teen Iva Jovic has room to grow amid meteoric rise

“I think a lot of tennis players, we’re very stubborn and can be a little bit extreme because we’re just perfectionists, right, and tennis is one of those sports where it’s physically impossible to be perfect and not miss.

“I try to identify who am I as a player, what is my game style, and then you just build around that. And I try to just emulate certain people, think about players that have been extremely successful in this sport and what do they have that I don’t have—someone who plays similar to you, but maybe you don’t have all those little fine tunes that they have.”

Jovic sought to employ some of those improvements against fellow American Alycia Parks in Charleston, who she played exactly one year ago in Bogota.

“I was trying to mix up my positions a little bit more, which I think I did a better job,” she mentioned after the straight-sets victory. “I mixed up my serve quite a bit with the second, and I think that made it a little bit more effective. I didn’t get broken after that first game.

“Maybe I might have combined in some extra drop pictures, however there was one try. So I’ll take that nicely and undoubtedly be higher on some defensive expertise. So, it is getting there. I would love to see much more, however I believe it is on a very good program.”

If that is how Jovic competes with room to grow, it is probably not lengthy earlier than gamers are wanting to emulate her.