Mumbai: The point started with a baseline brawl, both players hitting with pace and intent. And then Iva Jovic threw in a forehand slice that drew Alexandra Eala towards the net. The rally continued with Jovic hitting from the back and Eala, at the net, stretching to keep her volleys in play.
A volleyed winner finally ended the point in Eala’s favour.
Through a majority of the exchange, the packed stands in the Arthur Ashe Stadium gave up on all semblance of tennis etiquette. When there was supposed to be silence, there was thunderous cheering. At the end of it, American Jovic and Filipino star Eala, smiling broadly, met at the net and high-fived each other.
This was in an exhibition match during the Fan Week at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York ahead of the US Open.
On Saturday night, on that very court, 14th seed Jovic and 17th seed Eala played a competitive match, for ranking points, for a bigger chunk of the prize money, and a spot in the fourth round of the US Open.
Neither had made it to the second week of the Grand Slam in New York, but on the night the rising 18-year-old Jovi faced the immensely popular 21-year-old from The Phillippines, it was the teenager from California who came up trumps with a hard-fought 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 win.
“That felt like a marathon,” a breathless Jovic said in her on-court interview. “I felt like I lost my sanity five times over to win that match. But it’s really worth it for this feeling.”
This was only the third instalment of what is expected to become the next big rivalry in women’s tennis. Jovic had won both their previous matches in straight sets, but this was the first time they were meeting on hard court. And it proved a high-octane match between two youngsters who are on the ascendency and currently sit on their career-high ranking (Jovic is world No.14 and Eala No.18).
For just over three hours, the two battled it out for each point, pushing each other to all corners of the baseline, searching for winners through any gap they could find, defending with purpose when on the back foot, and hitting the ball as hard as they could.
Each set was eventually decided by a break of serve, but there was plenty of drama, particularly in the decider.
Eala took an early 2-0 lead. With Jovic trailing 2-4, the American won three games on the trot and had a match point on Eala’s serve. The Filipino held on though, and it looked like it would go into the match tie-break.
With Eala serving to stay in the match at 5-6, Jovic had a second match point. The crafty lefty pushed Jovic into a corner and aimed to strike a forehand winner only for the shot to hit the net.
Jovic sank to the floor. When she got up, Eala had already crossed the net to greet her.
What happened in the hard-fought contest showed the character of two fearless, aggressive players. But the exchange at the end told a story of a friendship between two fierce rivals on court.
“It says a lot about her as a person,” Jovic said in the media conference, about Eala greeting her after the match. “To be able to do that after that type of match and still come over and hug me and wish me all the best. And even in the locker room, behind closed doors. That just says a lot about her and her character.”
The next part of the journey at the US Open though, will take place without her good friend in the draw.
Once using the tennis courts in her apartment complex to ride a bicycle and play football, it was only during the pandemic that Jovic really took to playing tennis, according to the US Open website. And now she’s enjoying her breakthrough season on tour.
In January, she became the youngest women’s singles player since Venus Williams to reach the quarter-final of the Australian Open. It was followed by third and fourth rounds at the French Open and Wimbledon respectively. At the US Open, she began her campaign with straight-sets wins over Magdalena Frech and Francesca Jones.
The high-quality match on Saturday saw both players hit more winners than make unforced errors (It was 44-27 for Jovic and 34-33 for Eala).
“It took losing my earrings, falling literally flat on the floor, cuts on my knees, mental breakdowns,” she said. “It took literally everything to somehow squeeze my way through.”
The going gets tougher now as she next takes on former US Open winner Coco Gauff.
Saturday’s match though will linger on, for a budding rivalry, high-quality tennis, and a wonderful friendship.
