THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 3, 2026

Iva Jovic

Press Conference

I. JOVIC/E. Alexandrova

6-3, 3-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Iva, would you like to share some initial thoughts on today's match?

IVA JOVIC: I think it was a tough battle. I don't even know how I pulled through it in the end. Lots of ups and downs. But I think it was a high-quality match from both ends. Just happy with the level that was produced.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I saw bits of the third set. You had really long games. First two holding and breaking, you got broken again, and then you broke. Was there a pivotal moment for you in the set besides the final break?

IVA JOVIC: I think it was the moments leading up on serve that led to being up 5-4 on serve. I was finding my returns much better in the third set than the second, so I was able to break.

My serve was deteriorating a little bit, and I just hung tough in two service games. I saved breakpoints in both of those that I held. So that kept me in it. Because if you give someone a double-break lead, it's not good. Keeping it at 3-4 with only one break kind of let me hang in and get back into the match.

Q. Next round you are facing Jessica Pegula. The head-to-head is 2-nil to her. How do you feel facing her on grass...

IVA JOVIC: Did you guys hear that? Oh, my God. I don't know if the camera got that. Wow. Sorry, continue.

Q. You said at Queen's that grass is your favorite surface, so how do you feel going into this match facing her on the surface that you're more comfortable at?

IVA JOVIC: I think definitely this is a surface that probably favors both of us. Yeah, I like playing on the grass. I don't know. Hopefully, this will be the one I get her. You know, I'm 2-nil down, so I need to get a win on her here. I think I've improved as a player a lot since the first two times I played her.

Hopefully I can show that and hang tough here.

Q. How do you assess when you're looking back at a head-to-head like that? What do you take from those wins and losses? You're growing so much. You're so young. Improving really quickly. What do you look at that has helped you in the past when you look at past matches? What can you hone in on?

IVA JOVIC: Usually I like to watch some tape, especially if I lost to them. It helps to visually see what happened.

But I think it's just kind of how it is. Like early in your career, you're probably going to lose your first couple meetings against players who are already at the top, until you find your groove. And I think I have been proving in general that I'm getting closer, that I'm climbing, and playing better and better tennis. I hope that that can show.

But I don't take too much weight to the fact that she's beaten me twice, because I'm at a stage where I feel like I'm constantly changing as a player.

I'm going to watch and I'm going to see what happened, but I don't feel like that's very discouraging or anything like that.

Q. I remember the first time you guys played in Dubai. Ahead of that match, Jess was saying she finds that watching you, she sees a resemblance of herself through your game. Do you see that same resemblance?

IVA JOVIC: Definitely. People would tell me growing up to watch Jess, to watch and try to kind of do the things she does on the court.

I think there is a lot of things we do well, and we do similar, but a couple of differences too. I don't think we're, you know, the same in all categories.

Hopefully, I can play our game better. I don't know.

Q. Your soccer background, how does that help your tennis? Do you still play at all? How many of the World Cup matches have you been watching?

IVA JOVIC: I have been following the World Cup very closely, actually. It's been my fun evening to-do. Unfortunately, some of the games are very late. The ones that are like 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, I'm always watching.

I think it's really good. Playing soccer, I played since I was 6, 7, up until 13, very frequently. I think it helps a lot with footwork. It's very closely related to the movement that we do in tennis.

So I think every young athlete should play soccer, football, yeah.

Q. Do you look at the matches against the Pegulas and the Madison Keyses as a generational American sort of clash? Do you find any extra motivation or extra friendliness? Is there any different feeling when you're playing these players that you're seeing for a while?

IVA JOVIC: Definitely it's a little bit, I would say, cooler, because they're the ones that they have been around for a while and been at the top of the game for a while. So they're kind of the ones you grew up watching.

So it's like a cool little twist to go from watching them to playing them and competing, trying to beat them. Obviously with the Americans, I know all of them well, and there is friendship there.

You know, I think there is always also like we all want to win and be the best and kind of like prove ourselves in, I don't know, our little, like, American bubble because we have so many great players. So everyone kind of wants to be the top American, I guess. So there is a little bit extra competition there. Yeah, let's see.

Q. Something I have been wanting to ask you is about your experience growing up as a child of immigrants. It's something that I feel like a third culture kid thing people talk about so much. Then you get to a sport like tennis, and everybody's parents are from all over the place. What was your experience in that? Was it different arriving in tennis and being around that culture than it was when you were a little bit younger? I don't know if you had any thoughts about that.

IVA JOVIC: I mean, I think obviously there's, I mean, especially we're in the U.S., I mean, there's so many immigrants. A lot of the American players come from all over in general in tennis.

For me, I don't know. I mean, it means a lot, I guess, and kind of makes me proud and want to work for my entire family because they worked really hard and gave, I don't know, gave up a lot or maybe didn't have the same chances that I had growing up.

So I'm in a much better place, I think, with what I have been given. I just want to make use of that to the best that I can. So that's kind of how I see that situation.

Yeah, I'm really grateful to my parents for everything they have given me and my sister. There wasn't that much to give, but they gave it all.