MELBOURNE: Iva Jovic, the youngest player in the WTA top 100, leaned on advice from her idol Novak Djokovic to knock out seventh seed Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 7-6 (3), advancing to the fourth round of the Australian Open.Friday’s result put Jovic, the 29th seed, into the second week of a major for the first time.Born in Torrance, California, to Serbian parents Bojan and Jelena, who hail from Leskovac and Split, Croatia, Jovic, a Los Angeles resident, revealed she spoke with the 24-time Grand Slam champion on Thursday.
“He gave me some tips for my game, something I could incorporate into this match,” Jovic said of the third-round match. “When Novak gives you advice, you follow it.”“The advice was to open up the court a little bit better, to not rush into the shots all the time, find more width. I tried to do that, and it ended well. So I’m just going to try to keep listening to Novak.”Jovic, who takes on world No. 94 Yulia Putintseva for a place in the quarterfinals, said meeting the Serbian superstar was pretty insane.“You always think about those moments where you’re going to meet your idol,” she said. “Sometimes it can be a little bit deflating, where you kind of see that’s definitely not how it looks on TV. I think he’s almost even kinder and even more attentive outside the cameras.”“It was amazing. He’s so intelligent and smart and really wants to help the younger generation,” the 18-year-old said.
