The Iva Jovic Interview & Alcaraz's Injury Scare
Plus: What LIV Golf's fallout means for tennis, and Marketa Vondrousova has a point.
Context-free soundbite: “I used to call it Chipotle Stadium.”
This week on Served, Andy interviews Iva Jovic, a breakout star on the WTA Tour. Now ranked No. 16, the American teenager spills on Aryna Sabalenka’s aura and Novak Djokovic’s mentorship.
First, Andy, JW and Producer Mike discuss the weekend results and headlines, including the LIV Golf ripple effect on tennis and Marketa Vondrousova’s drug-testing ordeal.
Coming Up This Week on Served
Love All on Wednesday with 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone
Q&Andy on Thursday with Iva Jovic
5 Setter on Friday
Enjoy the new episode and this week’s bonus stories.
The latest stories that matter right now
Alcaraz Injury Extra: Quotes From the Spanish Press
Carlos Alcaraz accepted his Laureus Sportsman of the Year award yesterday with a brace on his right wrist, an injury that forced him out of the Barcelona and Madrid tournaments. Is it precautionary? Is it severe? It was a hot topic on today’s episode—and in the press room at the awards show. We translated his best quotes to the Spanish media.
On the likelihood of playing the French Open
“I don’t know how to tell you a percentage. We will see how it is after a week of rest. I hope this is nothing and pretty soon we can get back to the courts, but we understand clearly that this has to recover very well if I don’t want to hurt myself in the future.”
On missing Barcelona and Madrid
“Those are tournaments that I have been waiting for the whole year so I can play in front of my people, and to have to miss them really hurts.”
On concerns about losing his rhythm
“To tell you the truth, no. If God allows, I have a long career ahead of me. I’m not afraid right now to skip whatever I have to skip in order to recover this well.”
On whether he will push himself to play in Paris
“I prefer to come back a little late but very well than to come back rushing. We have to take care of ourselves because the race might be very long.”
The Slide Show: Clay Standouts and Storylines
In addition to the weekend winners and shakers discussed in the episode, a few players hit our radar in Week 3 of the clay swing, and we’re looking forward to reading more French Open tea leaves when players return to Madrid this week.
Week 3 Standouts
Rafael Jodar. A month ago, the 19-year-old Spaniard was No. 109 in the world. He goes home to Madrid as No. 42 after winning his first ATP title and making the semifinals of Barcelona. ¿Cómo se dice “crowd favorite”?
Alex Molčan. Ranked No. 166, the Slovakian qualified for Munich and made a run to the semifinals. He committed only nine errors against Denis Shapovalov in the quarters.
Zeynep Sönmez. The 23-year-old scored her first Top 10 win for both Turkey and herself in Stuttgart. She dominated Jasmine Paolini, the world No. 9, who left the court in tears and in the throes of a dismal 8–8 year.
Week 4 Storylines
Is Jessica Pegula still on a heater? She hasn’t played since winning Charleston in early April. Will the American continue her excellent season (24–4 with two titles) on the red clay, historically not her best surface?
Will Jannik Sinner complete the career masters? This is a better question for Week 6 in Rome, where he could wrap up his Masters 1000 box set. But first he has to bag Madrid, one of the two Masters he hasn’t won. He’s the prohibitive favorite, but should he win, the better question might be: Will he even play Rome or rest up for Roland Garros?
Jelena Dokic: What Saved My Life
Iva Jovic’s appearance on the new episode of Served coincides with a story of a previous WTA teen phenom we read this week: Jelena Dokic’s interview in The Guardian newspaper.
The occasion? It has been 25 years since Dokic won her biggest title, the Italian Open, at age 21. But she was derailed by abuse from her father, Damir, to the point that she considered suicide. Dokic never fulfilled her potential with a racquet in her hand. Instead, she has found happiness on the court as a well-regarded commentator for Australian TV—and off the court as an advocate for mental health.
🎤 Jelena Dokic
“I found so much strength in actually speaking up, in being an advocate, in not being ashamed of your life and what you go through. Owning your story and being authentic about it, yeah, it’s brought happiness to me. It’s actually saved my life.”
Read The Guardian’s full story
Perfect Delivery: That’s Not Amore
Flavio Cobolli took a page out of Aryna Sabalenka’s book and teased his girlfriend during the trophy ceremony in Munich on Sunday after a runner-up finish to Ben Shelton.
🎤 Flavio Cobolli
“I call yesterday my girlfriend, and I say, please, don’t let me lose. But she does. So maybe next final, you stay home.”
It was nice to see Cobolli joke around. He played through obvious grief in the semifinal on Saturday after learning that a young man he knew in Italy had passed away tragically.
Let’s see if he can put together good back-to-back weeks for the first time this season.
7
Consecutive WTA tournaments won by the No. 1 seed
On Sunday, Elena Rybakina won the WTA 500 in Stuttgart, Germany, and Marta Kostyuk took home the trophy at the WTA 250 in Rouen, France. Both women were top seeds, just like the five WTA champions before them:
Mirra Andreeva in Linz, Austria
Jessica Pegula in Charleston, South Carolina
Marie Bouzková in Bogotá, Colombia
Aryna Sabalenka in Indian Wells and Miami
Sabalenka doesn’t need any mystical help to keep the streak alive in Madrid. She has won the title three of the last five years.
The pattern shows how much stability there is at the top of the WTA Tour right now, and it’s giving fans what they want: a chance to watch the best players at the end of the tournament.
As long as this continues, the biggest winner is tennis.
Quick Hits
Maria Sharapova wrote about the “bitch” label for Ankler and launched a Substack.
Tennis stars cleaned up well for the Laureus World Sports Awards red carpet and games of Rock Paper Scissors Monday in Madrid. Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka took home the big prizes, Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year. Watch their acceptance speeches on YouTube.
The New York Times tackled: What’s a better workout, tennis or pickleball?
Novak Djokovic has spent how many weeks in the Top 5? He just broke one of Roger Federer’s records. (Tennis.com)
Loïs Boisson said the French Tennis Federation made “quite a few errors on the medical side” while helping her deal with injuries last year after her surprise run to the Roland Garros semifinals as a wild card entry. She returns this week in Madrid after sitting out since September. (So Tennis)
This gets you disqualified from a professional pickleball tournament. ⬇️
PADEL: Both Paula Josemaría and Ale Galán became the most decorated players in the sport with their wins at the Premier Padel tournament in Giza, Egypt, over the weekend.
SQUASH: Canada’s Danielle Ray announced her retirement from the PSA Tour with a candid perspective on an athlete’s highs and lows.
TABLE TENNIS: The 100th World Team Championships start next week in London—without the world’s best player. Reigning Olympic gold medalist Fan Zhendong of China withdrew, citing “personal reasons.”
PICKLEBALL: Jack Sock beat the world No. 1, Chris Haworth, at the Sacramento Open last week. Another former tennis player, Hurricane Tyra Black, won the mixed doubles title with Eric Oncins. They were perfect on serves, returns and third shots, a first for a five-set final on the PPA Tour.
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