17-year-old Iva Jovic was ranked 659 this time last year when she took her place in the BNP Paribas Open qualifying draw and lost to Taylor Townsend. 

This year, more than 500 spots higher in the rankings and the current junior World No. 4, Jovic is back with two Grand Slam main draw wins to her name, and fresh off her maiden BNP Paribas Open win, a 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 win over Austria’s Julia Grabher in the first round. 

She will face sixth-ranked Jasmine Paolini next. 

Get to know the rising prospect from Torrance, California:

She has been coming to the BNP Paribas Open since she was four or five years old 

“I have been coming here every year as a fan since I was four or five,” Jovic told the media after her first-round win on Thursday. “I was very young. I have a distinct memory of waiting on the side of a practice court when Djokovic was playing. Oh my god it was the longest practice, we waited for like two and a half hours to finally get his autograph.”

She has Djokovic’s autograph but hasn’t met him yet 

Jovic might need somebody to help her with the formal introduction because Nole’s aura is a bit intimidating for the teenager. 

“I have a picture with him but I still haven’t got a formal introduction,” she said. “I’m a little bit shy. I don’t know, I was just talking about this with my coach, he has this aura when he walks in a room, you’re like oh my gosh Novak’s here. 

“He’s definitely very inspiring. I watched him growing up all the time. It’s nice to have someone to look up to that was that incredibly successful.”

She’s setting herself apart

Of all the players yet to turn 18 on the WTA Tour, only World No. 11 Mirra Andreeva is ranked higher than Jovic. The Southern California native, who will turn 18 on December 6, is one of just two WTA players aged 17 or younger to rank inside the Top 200. She has won 35 of 49 professional matches since the start of 2024 and reached six finals, winning two titles. 

She’s had success at the Slams

Jovic has played in two main draws at the majors, and earned a victory in each. She reached the second round on her Grand Slam debut at the 2024 US Open, where she was the youngest player in the draw, then she reached the second round at the Australian Open in January. 

At the US Open, her 6-4, 6-4 victory over Magda Linette made her the youngest player to win a match in Flushing Meadows since 2020. 

She’s confident in her ability

Jovic appeared at the BNP Paribas Open Next Gen Panel prior to Monday’s draw ceremony, alongside Clara Tauson, Nishesh Basavareddy and Learner Tien. The teenager talked about how much her Grand Slam performances have boosted her confidence. 

“I consider myself a pretty humble tournament so I didn’t think too much about it,” she said when asked about her future aspirations. “I was like ‘It’s a long road ahead, you are going to need to work super hard until you get to play the big stars, but at the US Open I got a wild card [from winning the USTA 18s] and beat a great player (42nd-ranked Pole Magda Linette). 

“I almost beat another great player in the second round (she lost in three sets to 31st-ranked Ekaterina Alexandrova). I was like ‘Ok, maybe you can hang here.’ 

“I love getting to see that I can play at this level.” 

Jovic cites Belinda Bencic as an inspiration

Jovic, whose mother is Croatian and father is Serbian, is a big fan of Novak Djokovic, understandably. But she models her all-court game after former World No. 4 Belinda Bencic. 

"She takes the ball so early," Jovic said of the 27-year-old Swiss. "And her footwork is very ... cutting the angles, so she just makes her opponents feel suffocated. That's what I would like to try to do." 

The Torrance native has lots of fans in attendance at Indian Wells 

“I definitely have a lot of friends that I think came out,” she said. “I’m not even in contact with all of them but I think that my whole So Cal tennis community was here. They were definitely cheering for me which was pretty special.”

She speaks fluent Serbian and spent many summers in Serbia with her family 

Jovic’s mom is Croatian and her dad is Serbian. She grew up speaking Serbian at home and has spent numerous summers visiting family in Serbia. 

“I have a lot of family over there, and it was nice to see that different culture,” she said. “It was mostly to have some fun and spend time with family and friends that I didn’t get to see very often. Tennis was on the side, and I always came back a little bit worse, but I think the memories were worth it.”

I went all over. I have family in Belgrade, I have family in Lescovac, it’s a smaller town, and we would do little road trips to Macedonia. We went all over.

She loves tennis for the lessons it gives 

I think there’s a lot of self-talk. You are pretty much alone out there with your thoughts for two-plus hours, so it kind of just teaches you what you can say, what helps you and how to get through those tight moments. You kind of learn how to think for yourself and I think you can take that outside the tennis court as well. I think it just makes me a more rounded person.”