Top things to know about rising U.S. tennis star Iva Jovic

Eighteen-year-old American tennis player Iva Jovic is making her second appearance at Roland-Garros ranked No. 17 in the world.

She arrives in Paris on the back of a run to the 2026 Italian Open round of 16 that pushed reigning French Open champion Coco Gauff to three sets, with Jovic holding a match point in the second before Gauff came through to win 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.

As the Californian returns to the French Open inside the top 20 for the first time, here are the top facts to know about the Torrance native.

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She grew up in California with Serbian roots

Jovic was born on 6 December 2007 in Torrance, California. Her father, Bojan, and mother, Jelena are both pharmacists who arrived in the United States in the early 2000s after Jelena won a green card through the immigration lottery.

She grew up speaking Serbian at home.

"For my parents, it was really important to them that I spoke Serbian, so that I could speak with my grandparents, my aunts and uncles," said Jovic in an interview with the Cincinnati Open. "I'm super grateful that I have that because now at these international events, it's another group of people that I can communicate with."

Jovic's older sister Mia plays tennis at UCLA.

She hated losing – even as a kid

Jovic picked up a racquet at five years old. Her earliest competitive memories involve practice sets against her sister.

"I was a little bit of a menace," she said, "because I just couldn't stand losing."

She started winning at an early age, including the U14 singles at the Orange Bowl in December 2021. Jovic later reached No. 2 in the combined junior rankings and won junior doubles titles at the 2024 Australian Open and Wimbledon alongside Tyra Caterina Grant.

Jovic won her first WTA title at 17

Last September, Jovic arrived at the Guadalajara Open in Mexico unseeded and ranked world No. 73. She left as a champion.

She was pushed to the brink in her quarterfinal match against Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva, then beat Emiliana Arango 6-4, 6-1 in the final – the youngest titlist on the WTA Tour since two-time Grand Slam champion Gauff won in Parma in 2021.

Her ranking jumped to No. 36 the following week.

At the 2026 Australian Open, she made history

In Melbourne in January, Jovic reached the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam for the first time.

She beat seventh seed Jasmine Paolini, a Paris 2024 Olympic champion in doubles, along the way and dismissed Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 6-1 in just 53 minutes in the fourth round. The run made her the youngest U.S. player to reach the Australian Open quarters since four-time Olympic champion Venus Williams in 1998.

She lost to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the last eight, but by 30 March, her ranking had climbed to a career high of No. 16.

A focus on clay pays off

Jovic has focused on improving her game on clay – a surface once unfamiliar to her.

"Originally, it was a bit foreign to me. A couple of years ago, I hadn't played on clay at all, didn't know how to slide," said Jovic in an interview with Roland-Garros. "But I worked really hard to get better on the clay. Last year, I did big training blocks. I mean, my preseason was mostly on clay as well. So I'm moving so much better on it, and I like to think that I have strengths in all of the surfaces."

That work has paid off.

In Rome last week, she pushed Gauff, the reigning French Open champion, to three sets and held a match point in the second before Gauff rallied to win a close-fought contest.

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