INDIAN WELLS — When you\u2019re a teenager, it\u2019s not easy to see beyond the here and now, but Iva Jovic and her team are committed to playing the long game.<\/p>\n
After the Californian played in all four Grand Slam main draws a year ago at the age of 17 and emphatically punctuated her 2025 season with a title at the Guadalajara 500, her coach stressed seeing the larger picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great that she had this success,\u201d said her coach, Tom Gutteridge. \u201cWhat\u2019s really important is that she stays in the moment and keeps developing and analyzing areas of her game that need to improve. We\u2019re really trying to work toward a bigger goal and focus — and that\u2019s not for another three to five years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gutteridge, a 33-year-old Englishman, knows all about developing a well-planned, judicious approach. After all, it worked out nicely for him.<\/p>\n
He began coaching at the bare age of 16 and, after developing CiCi Bellis and a large number of successful college players, found himself in charge of the United States Tennis Association\u2019s best and brightest from the Class of 2007-08. Gutteridge trained and traveled with those four gifted 14-year-olds.<\/p>\n
Four years later, still only 18, Jovic is a sparkling 14-5 in 2026 and ranked inside the Top 20 on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. After reaching the semifinals in Auckland and the finals in Hobart, she opened eyes in Melbourne, reaching the quarterfinals before falling to World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncredible player,\u201d Sabalenka marveled afterward. \u201cShe played incredible tennis and pushed me to a one-step better level. It was a battle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former professional and World Feed analyst Jill Craybas was among the many witnessing Jovic\u2019s remarkably complete game for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t see anything technically that can go wrong in her game,\u201d Craybas said. \u201cShe\u2019s pretty solid all around. I also love the fact that she\u2019s not afraid to come forward, especially for someone so young.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other thing that stood out is her competitive fire and the way she carries herself. For someone so young, she already has that good mental stability. She was fun to watch — I enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Born and raised in Torrance, Calif., Jovic grew up playing primarily soccer and came to taking tennis seriously relatively late. She was 12 in 2020, the year COVID-19 hit, when she began putting in more hours at the USTA training facility in Carson, California.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Initially, her strokes were nothing special, but Gutteridge saw something beyond the technical stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer pre-point routines and her focus and engagement were off the charts at a young age,\u201d he said. \u201cSame as what she is now. She played every point like it was set point or match point. She prepared in the way you see her prepare for points now. Just her engagement, her intensity — that was special.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cJust in big moments, the way she would step up and play the big points \u2026 I don\u2019t think you can teach that.\u201d<\/p>\n
This early in the curve, Gutteridge explained, there are so many areas under construction: The serve-plus-one is a big area of focus, hitting spots, hitting targets, having more variation. One of her best abilities is re-directing the ball, somewhat in the manner of Jessica Pegula.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat could not only continue to be a strength but become kind of a superpower,\u201d Gutteridge explained. \u201cAgainst any type of ball speed. So we\u2019re looking to refine that. Then her all-court game, I would love to continue to improve her volleys, her intangibles, her slice and her drop shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge is that she\u2019s now playing a full schedule. We\u2019re trying to find those weeks and months to sort of develop her game on the practice court.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not easy. For a young player who has a high enough ranking to gain direct entry into the marquee tournaments, it can be terribly tempting to want to play all of them.<\/p>\n
To that end, Team Jovic made a difficult decision. After her unexpectedly deep runs Down Under, they opted to pass on the Doha 1000. After four or five days off, they resumed training in Orlando, where Jovic maintains an apartment. From there, they flew to Dubai and put in another week of training before playing that 1000 event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important for her to sort of reflect on what she\u2019s done and not just chase the points, beat the people you\u2019re supposed to beat,\u201d Gutteridge said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially if you want a long career. It\u2019s my job to keep that longevity and hunger and enjoyment for the sport. I don\u2019t want to push her too soon. She\u2019s still very young, still developing her body as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jovic is listed at 5-foot-8, but Gutteridge, citing her taller sister, thinks she\u2019ll grow even taller. That, plus natural muscle development should gradually put even more pop on her already heavy shots. Among the primary offseason goals were improving physicality and fitness (by practicing a lot on clay) and creating more explosive movement mechanics.<\/p>\n
The overarching goal is developing a familiarity for the sometimes daunting rigors of professional tennis. Yes, the long game is in serious play.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay healthy and keep building on the success of last year,\u201d Gutteridge said. \u201cThis year, it\u2019s more can she get used to this week-in-and-week-out grind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“That\u2019s our biggest goal, for her to feel super confident and comfortable that she can handle the schedule and feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIAN WELLS — When you\u2019re a teenager, it\u2019s not easy to see beyond the here and now, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[79,1068,661,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-807490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-text","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116181290858213319","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}