"Honestly, I was so relaxed — almost too relaxed" - No nerves for Iva Jovic as the 18-year-old waltzes into the second round

Iva Jovic looks to continue her progress on the WTA Circuit after a very positive start to 2026. She made lightwork of Katie Volynets in the first round of the Australian Open, triumphing 6-2, 6-3.

She managed to shut down the majority of threats throughout the match, with it never looking like Jovic lost control. It took just under 90 minutes for her to get the better of her fellow American as she makes round two for the second consecutive year.

"It feels good. It was a solid match, and Katie’s a tough opponent," she commented in her press conference. "She played well and made a lot of balls. It was super windy, so there were a lot of different conditions to deal with, but obviously I’m happy to be through."

The 18-year-old is already competing in her third tournament of the year, with the previous two involving very deep runs. She made it to the ASB Classic semi-final before losing in the final of the Hobart International.

"Honestly, it all feels like one big tournament because I feel like I’ve almost been playing every day," she stated. "I have doubles tomorrow as well, so it’s nice. I like when I get to play a lot of matches and build momentum, so for me it feels really nice to have that continuity. But obviously I worked really hard in the preseason. I think I made a lot of advancements, and thankfully that’s showing up early in the season, which is nice. It doesn’t always do that, but you kind of just have to trust the work that you’ve done."

After an incredible breakthrough campaign which saw her win a maiden WTA title while also rising into the top 30, she is looking to continue this as the American targets big ambitions in the premature stages of her tennis career.

She touched on what she focused on in the off season. "There were a couple of specific things I was working on. A lot of physical stuff in the gym — getting stronger, getting faster, quicker," she said. "A couple of technical tweaks with my groundstrokes and my serve, which took some time as well.

One of the reasons she is playing so much is because she had an elongated period of preparing for the next tournaments in 2026. "I took a pretty long preseason, so I had a lot of time to get everything done. It was a lot of long days, but it’s definitely starting to click now, and hopefully I can keep improving as the year goes on."

In a sign of how mature the teenager is, Jovic showed her composure ahead of the tournament. It is not her first encounter in Melbourne Park, with her familiar of the process heading into the first match. Even so, she was questioning herself on why she was so chilled out before the action commenced.

"Honestly, I was so relaxed — almost too relaxed. I was like, why do I feel like this?" she queried. "I woke up wanting to sleep more, and then I got here and my cortisol was going so fast. It was like record time. I was rushing from warm-up to try to make it to my match because everyone was just getting smoked on my court. It was kind of a whirlwind. I’ve never seen two guys’ matches play in like an hour and 20 minutes each. I kind of just rocked up on court right after warm-up and finishing eating, so I was just like, all right, let’s go and do this."

These quick matches beforehand definitely helped out Jovic. "Yeah, probably. You don’t want to be as rushed as I was today, but you have to be flexible with tennis because you really don’t know when you’re going to go on. I’d already played nine matches before today, so you’re kind of in the groove and it’s autopilot, I think."

There are a lot of friendships cropping up in the tennis world. Jovic and Victoria Mboko also hold a positive off-court relationship, starting back when they were both juniors. "I’ve known Vicky for quite a while. We were in the juniors together. We played each other in the junior US Open third round three or four years ago — she killed me," she said as she prepared to partner up with the Canadian in the doubles.

"She’s such a funny kid. She’s an unbelievable player, but she’s so goofy off the court, and we have so much fun together. We also played each other and grinded together a lot on the ITF circuit last year. I think we played first round at a 75K less than a year ago, so we kind of did the whole path together. It’s really nice to see her doing so well and to be here together. We’re playing doubles tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to that."

Despite her age, Jovic has already done enough to rise up the rankings and become a seed for the major event. While it is an honour for her to be in this position, it does not really change much in her mindset towards the event.

"I think it’s really nice just to achieve the goal," she exclaimed. "I don’t think it changes a lot in how you approach the matches. You still want to play as well as you can and take it one match at a time."

While that is the case, her feelings are different when it comes to the draw. "But it’s really nice not to be so nervous when the draw is coming out. At other Slams, I was really antsy watching the draw ceremony. This time I was kind of like, I’ll see it later. It’s okay. It’s not going to be horrifying either way."

She will be the second favourite on the court in her second round matchup, with Aussie wildcard Priscilla Hon the next challenge Jovic must face if she wants her Australian Open campaign to prolong.

"I’ve never played Priscilla. I know her quite well, and we’ve practised together a couple of times. She’s super nice, super friendly, strikes the ball really well, and is super talented. She has some dicing and chipping as well."

It will not be easy, with Jovic also highlighting the fans allegiances with her opponent. "I think it’ll be a tricky match, and playing an Aussie at the Australian Open is always difficult. It’ll be quite the atmosphere. I do have some family here too, though, and they’re quite loud — so it’ll be the Jovics against a lot of Aussies."